The goal of Judo for Children (JFC) is to integrate judo into school curriculums so that children can benefit from the sport and learn its values in order to create a more just society.

JFC strives to fight against any kind of discrimination and segregation, promoting an educational activity that helps to build the mind and body of the younger generations.

It aims to instil the values of judo such as respect, honour, friendship, self-control, modesty, politeness and give them skills for life.

JFC is active in countries all over the world, especially in sectors where social disorders destroyed the social network and where values have been lost.

Latvia officially signed up to the JFC programme in September 2018, joined the list of countries - more than 30 to date all over the world - that have made judo a basic element of the education of youngsters.

The launch of the programme across the country took place in Riga in the presence of 8,000 children and their teachers as well as Latvia’s President Raimonds Vējonis, the Ministers of Sports, Education and Science the concerned ministers and representatives of the National Olympic Committee.

Ten schools are officially included in the programme, and step by step, the size of it will be increased.

Based on the number of classes in every single school and on the fact that each class has between 24 and 30 pupils, there are already several hundred children who can benefit from the judo sessions once a week.

After the launch phase, the objective is to include judo in all of Latvia’s 775 schools.