Tory peer: Put picking up litter on curriculum

LITTER picking should be put on the national curriculum, a peer is demanding.

All Year 6 primary school pupils should devote two hours a year to keeping their local area tidy, said Tory Lord Robathan.

Speaking in Parliament yesterday, he said: ‘If we got all ten and 11year-olds in this country to spend one afternoon in their lives clearing litter from our towns and rural lanes, that would lead to them being educated, their families being educated and, in the long term, might lead to a better attitude in society towards litter.’

Lord Blunkett agreed, adding: ‘It would be a very good idea to encourage them to continue picking up litter’.

But Liberal Democrat Lord Addington said schools already had a ‘very crowded curriculum’.

Labour’s Lord Winston said the pressures on primary schools and their teachers were ‘immense’.

He said it would be far better to make this kind of education possible in the classroom ‘which would take up much less time, be far less dangerous and not expose children to other risks, such as infection’.

For the Government, Viscount Younger of Leckie said ministers backed Keep Britain Tidy’s Great British Spring Clean, which runs until April 23 and is supported by the Daily Mail.

But he added: ‘The Government have pledged not to change the national curriculum for the duration of this Parliament to provide stability and consistency for schools’

Keep Britain Tidy said thousands of schoolchildren are already involved in litter picking.

Chief executive Allison OgdenNewton, said: ‘ Schoolchildren across the country aren’t waiting for someone to make litter-picking part of the National Curriculum.

‘More than 160,000 are already taking action by litter-picking as part of the Great Big School Clean, clearing tons of rubbish from our streets, parks and beaches.’

Football pundit Gary Lineker is backing the Great British Spring Clean. The face of Walkers Crisps said: ‘It’s just brilliant to see people coming together to tackle the blight of litter in their communities.

‘I can’t praise these volunteers highly enough.’

A total of 536,994 volunteers have signed up to this year’s Great British Spring Clean. To join them, go online at gbspringclean.org.