Obesity on the rise as students prefer to sit down

In his physical education class, Ankur and his friends are left to play on their own. While they have a PT teacher, neither the teacher nor the students are interested in any form of sports and physical education.

This scenario is being played out in schools across the city and is resulting in pre-pubescent children becoming obese, according to a recent survey. The first-ever survey on the physical fitness of Indian urban school children reveals that obesity sets in even before adolescence, the period which was, until now, believed to impact children’s physical activity and eating patterns.

Around 4,098 children (2,200 boys and 1,898 girls), aged between five and 14, were surveyed across 21 EduSports partner schools in 15 cities. It was revealed that around 23 per cent of the children surveyed, possessed a high Body Mass Index (BMI). Another 19% showed low BMI ratios. Together, a whopping 42% of the children surveyed did not possess ideal BMI ratios.

While physical education classes are failing in schools, back home, Ankur Ghate, an eight-year old is engrossed in videogames in his free time.

“We stay in an apartment with not much space for the kids to play. The children’s park inside the complex is a small piece of land with a few rides. At home, Ankur is either with his videogames or watching cartoons. He is already overweight by 4kg. “School authorities should take up physical education seriously and at least teach the children some form of exercises to stay fit,” said Shruti Ghate, Ankur's mother.

Obesity is reaching epidemic proportions, with around 25% of city children between the age group of four to 12, suffering from obesity, said Dr Karthik Nagesh, president, Indian Academy of Pediatrics, Bangalore and HoD (neonatology), Manipal Hospital.

“We need to tackle this through a systematic and educative approach to sensitise the parents about their children getting obese due to faulty eating habits, lack of physical education and stress levels in school,” he said.

Schools here have an important role to play in providing a wholesome education, in terms of physical and mental education.
Mostly, it is seen that students compromise on sports for academics.

Thus, school authorities should always encourage students to participate in athletic activities.

It's clear that in order to imbibe a healthy lifestyle among children, physical education is a must. “Since physical education is mandatory in ICSE and CBSE marks cards, most schools have a specific slot in a week for this subject. Unfortunately, the focus and the seriousness towards the subject are absent. School authorities and parents should realise that physical education forms an integral part of a holistic education system. It is through physical education only that a child can learn to set goals, handle failures and be successful in life,” said Saumil Majumdar, co-founder and director, EduSports, provider of sports management services to schools.

Thus, ideally, a physical education class should focus on teaching locomotive and manipulative skills, body management skills and skills of coordination, he added.

In the latest annual India’s Most Respected Schools Survey 2010, Bangalore's Inventure Academy ranked fourth in sports education among Indian day schools.

Speaking to DNA about the importance of sports and physical education among school students, Kishen Whabi, director (physical education and sports), Inventure Academy, said: “We have developed our own sports curriculum and programme based on global best practices and addresses fundamental movement skills that a child needs to learn at every level.”

Physical education class is compulsory on a daily basis for every student for all grades (pre-kindergarten to Grade 12).

The rationale behind this is to create a habit for fitness and to leverage the soft skills that accrue from sports — like team work, sportsmanship, facing challenges, and setting goals, he added.