By: Karl Salkowski

Children are raised differently around the world, but one experience that most kids share is school. How you get to school can vary greatly between students. Whether you bike, walk, take public transportation, carpool, or hike through the mountains, everyone arrives at the same destination.

According to Saferoutesinfo.org, “In 1969, 48% of children 5 to 14 years of age usually walked or bicycled to school.” This has dramatically decreased since then, and has fallen to only 13%. In 1969 89% of children who lived within a mile of school walked or bicycled. Now only 35% bike or walk. This decrease has been happening steadily over the course of the last 50 years. As more vehicles are on the road, biking and walking become inherently more dangerous. More and more parents see walking/biking to school as unsafe which may lead them to instead drive their kids to school. This feeds into the cycle.

However, not everywhere in the world is like this. For example, the city of Oulu, Finland has recently become one of the most pedestrian and bike friendly cities in the world. They did this by greatly increasing the amount of bike infrastructure, and plowing the bike paths immediately after the snow falls. According to BBC, “In one of Oulu’s biggest schools Metsokangas, more than 90% of the children get to school by bike or on foot.” Although the average for the city schools overall is 50%, it’s still incredibly impressive seeing that it’s the 4th most northern city in the world.

Biking to school in the middle of the winter may seem difficult, but it’s nothing compared to how strenuous of a journey some kids in China had to go through. Some kids had to hike almost half way up a mountain to get to school in Gulu Village, China. From 2005-2011 students in the Gulu Village would have to hike 3-5 hours to reach a school that stood atop the mountain. They had to take a windy path that is filled with many twists and bends. The narrowest part of the trail is 40 centimeters.

The school was first made of mud, but the principal Shen Qijun through support of the people living below transformed it into a somewhat safe building complete with five classrooms and a restroom. Soon the school lacked funding, and it was decided to relocate down below in the village. This is only a small glimpse into the different challenges school kids face around the world.