Good sports: Director of Leisure & Cultural Services Thomas Chow (fourth from right) and Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs Carrie Lam (second from right) join guests, students and teachers at the sportACT Award Scheme launching ceremony.

A scheme aimed at encouraging primary and secondary students to actively participate in at least one sport of their choice has been launched. Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs Carrie Lam hopes the objective of "one student, one sport" will be achieved.

Joining 3,000 students at the sportACT Award Scheme launching ceremony and carnival today, Mrs Lam said through students' continuous participation in sports and schools' involvement and support, participation in the School Sports Programme is expected to rise to 90% from 70% in three years.

The scheme is a new initiative under the School Sports Programme. Students will plan and log their sports activities and be awarded certificates according to their levels of participation. They will also sign a charter pledging to engage in certain hours of sports activities over an eight-week period, and record those sports activities in a log book to be certified by a parent, teacher or coach.

In recognition of their attainment of the set goals, they will receive gold, silver or bronze award certificates.

Complementary badge scheme

The School Sports Programme now has a badges award scheme which tests and rewards students for the skill level they achieve in specific sports. The sportACT Award Scheme will complement it by rewarding students for the process of continuous participation.

Schools taking part in sportACT will also sign a charter pledging to provide more opportunities for their students to engage in sports. So far 77 schools have already signed on. Any participating school that has 25% or more of its students awarded sportACT certificates within a school year will receive an Active School Award.