School pupils in Moray have taken delivery of a huge shipment of rice in order to sample the hardship Africans their age have to endure.
Students at Speyside High School have been tasked with selling 90kg of the grain over the next month in order to cover the bill of nearly £300.
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The weighty total represents the amount of rice that families in Malawi need to sell in order to pay for each year of their children’s secondary school education.
The price means that less than one in three children there are able to attend classes into their teens.
Now S2 geography students on Speyside have been tasked with selling the same amount in order to get an insight into life in the African country.
The large shipment of rice from the nation arrived at the school in Aberlour this week and yesterday pupils were busy selling bags to customers.
Sales have already been organised at the forthcoming parent’s evening as well as a coffee morning in the village to shift the stock.
Keith Turner, principal teacher of geography at Speyside High School, said: “It is good for the students to get an insight into education in the rest of the world.
“It helps to make the topics we discuss a bit more real when we can actually replicate the sorts of things that we are discussing – even if it’s just being able to visualise what 90kg of rice actually looks like.”
This year is the third time that the secondary has taken part in the challenge, which is organised by Just Trading Scotland (JTS).
The charity aims to use the experience to educate children about the benefits of fair trade and livelihoods across the globe.
John Riches, chairman of JTS, said: “People selling rice here makes a huge difference to the lives of the farmers in Africa.
“We’ve brought some of them over in the past and it really energises them to see it happen, it gives them hope.”
Any profits made by the school during the challenge will be donated to JTS.