Gym owners have been invited to apply for their participation in the 2025 Budgetary Measure through which youths born between 2005 and 2007 will be granted a 6-month gym membership free of charge, the Ministry for Education said in a statement on Monday.

The Ministry of Education said that in the last few days a call for interest and application was issued for gym owners interested in taking part in the 2025 budgetary measure.

Through this measure, the government is set to give youth, born between 2005 and 2007, a 6-month gym membership free of charge, it said. Furthermore, it said that the vision of this measure is for the government to allow everyone access to sports facilities through which physical exercise is emphasised as a life-long process that must be started as early as possible.

The ministry said that the idea behind this measure is to promote a healthier lifestyle physically and mentally as well as create a culture of healthy eating. It said that this is part of the ministry’s vision even within the education sector and is being seen through by various measures.

The ministry said that amongst these measures, there was a pilot project which increased the time students spend doing physical activity. It said that the project was successful and saw the involvement of five different colleges, totalling 500 classes. It added that within 2 years, it should be in every college.

“Last year, the strategy for public consultation, with the collaboration of the Ministry for Health, A Strategy for Health-Enhancing Physical Activity was launched. The strategy has the vision of every citizen having better education on the importance of physical activity in daily life, leading to improved health,” Minister for Education Clifton Grima said. “This measure as well as the others in the education and sports sectors are leading to greater importance to participation in physical activity in daily life,” he concluded. 

Interested gyms may fill in their details before the 21st of February 2025 at noon.