Health-conscious students will be walking around the world ? without leaving the Island.

The youngsters hope to cover about 24,091.55 miles as part of a challenge by the Bermuda Diabetes Association.

Education Minister Terry Lister on Monday launched the four-month competition, Walk Around the World, which encourages students to have fun while getting healthy.

Mr. Lister said he was alarmed by the number of teenagers with Type 2 diabetes in Bermuda and hoped the challenge would help encourage healthier habits.

Students from the participating schools have each been provided with a pedometer on which the number of steps they take over the next four months will be counted on a daily basis.

These steps will then be translated into miles, feet or kilometres and a daily record will be kept on a 9ft by 13ft map of the world.

Schools taking part in the challenge include Sandys Secondary Middle School, Bermuda Institute, Spice Valley Middle School, Warwick Academy, Dellwood Middle School, Saltus Grammar School, Bermuda High School for Girls, Mount Saint Agnes, Whitney Institute Middle School and Clearwater Middle School.

The Bermuda Diabetes Association is offering prizes for classes which complete the challenge first and $1,000 is up for grabs to the school which completes the 131,480,184ft challenge first.

Second prize is $500, while third and fourth places win $250 each. The money was donated by the Ross (Blackie) Talbot Charity Golf Tournament.

Classes have chosen their own path around the globe and representatives from the Bermuda Diabetes Association have been assigned to each school to help with individual programmes.

Tabulation of the walking totals began on January 10 and in order to give classes an idea of how their progress compares to other schools, results will be published on February 21, April 11 and May 23.

Bermuda Diabetes Association president Trevor Madeiros said adjustments would be made for different sized classes so the average number of steps per student could be credited.

?In an effort to involve the students? minds as well as their bodies, teachers of history, geography, mathematics, political science and languages are being encouraged to take part in the project.?