Kenyan education ministry seeks to promote junior athletics

Nairobi, June 25: Kenya's Ministry of Education has partnered with Athletics Kenya (AK) to launch the Kid's Athletics, officials said here.

Principal Secretary for Education Belio Kipsang on Friday said the move is aimed at boosting co-curricular activities among children aged between seven and 14, reports Xinhua.

"The main objective of the Kids Athletics is to nurture talents in children, make children enjoy sport, fight obesity and other diseases brought about by being inactive among others," Kipsang said in a statement.

This follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) by the two institutions to work together in the organisation and development of Kids Athletics in Kenya.

The programme aims at making children enjoy playing and sporting at an early age. It will be integrated into school activity — put in the co-curricular calendar of events next year. The programme has potential to be pathway for skill development in sport for children in future.

Kids Athletics will also enable a smooth transition from children-junior-youth and senior athletics. Some of the features of the kid's athletics will include sprinting or running, jumping and throwing events.