THE realities of sweat shops in developing countries has been brought home to pupils at a Darlington school.

Year seven students from Hurworth School spent 40 minutes working under conditions similar to Third World sweat shops, as part of an exercise organised by citizenship co-ordinator Lisa Armes.

The pupils were asked to draw as many bananas as possible to a specific format in 40 minutes with limited resources.

Rita Ress, event co-ordinator, said: "The idea was for them to understand what it's like for workers of their age in Third World countries, who produce clothes and other goods for poor wages.

"The students couldn't acquire whatever they wanted to do the job and were shouted at.

"From the exercise, the students learnt the reality of working conditions in the Third World and how lucky they are."