UAE | Health

Physical education mandatory in Abu Dhabi schools

MoH survey showed that 21 per cent of UAE school students aged four to 18 years, had the potential to become overweight

  • By Dina El Shammaa, Abu Dhabi Deputy Editor
  • Published: 00:00 May 18, 2010
  • Gulf News

  • Image Credit: Gulf News Archive
  • Students exercise on their first day at an Indian school in the UAE. Pictures used for illustrative purposes only.
Image 1 of 4
1234

Abu Dhabi: Physical education in public and private schools has become mandatory across the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, a senior official at the first school health development strategy workshop on Monday confirmed.

The decision was taken by the Health Authority Abu Dhabi (HAAD) and the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC), after findings issued by the Global School Survey showed that 12.1 per cent of adolescents across the emirate were obese or overweight.

Being overweight increases a person's chances of developing diabetes. An estimated 20 per cent of residents in Abu Dhabi have diabetes.

Speaking on the sidelines of Monday's workshop, HAAD Public Health Manager Salim Adib said: "Children in the emirate aren't in good health.

Avoiding junk food

"They're not eating the right food, nor exercising enough. That's why today's meeting is important, since all authorities concerned will set a strategy to help curb obesity and diabetes among our adults of tomorrow."

Related Links

Adib added: "Our main concern is that 70 per cent of overweight adolescents stand a chance of becoming obese adults. "That's why it's fundamentally important to prevent obesity at a young age, and to help omit hyper-caloric junk.

"For instance, one of our priorities is to provide students with sports facilities in schools during the day, even after school hours."

A UAE Ministry of Health (MoH) survey showed that 21 per cent of UAE school students aged four to 18 years, had the potential to become overweight.

HAAD CEO Zaid Al SikSek said: "There's a total of 550,000 children in the emirate, which is more than a quarter of the number of residents across the emirate. "If we want to build a strong and healthy generation, each one of these children needs special encouragement and guidance towards eating healthy, and playing sports." The HAAD plans to promote hygiene, healthy eating, and safety in schools. "We want students to stop smoking cigarettes and shisha, and to use seat belts in school buses," Al SikSek said.

"We'll also create programmes to help limit physical violence in schools, through positive mental and psychological means."

More than Dh10 million has also been spent on providing 305 emirate public schools with health care and fully fledged medical services.

ADEC Director General Mugheer Al Khaili said: "The ADEC has been in close contact with the Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA) to provide public school students from Kindergarten one (KG1) to Grade 12 (G12), with medical services and a nurse on board, and will complete our mission with all our 180 private schools by next year."

Health

• 12.1 per cent adolescents are overweight

• 21 per cent are at risk of being overweight due to imbalance of calorie intake

• 26 per cent of school students have 2-3 soft drinks each day

• 39 per cent of students lead a sedentary lifestyle

• 70 per cent of overweight adolescences end up obese adults

Do you support this move? Will it bring results? What other ways would help children overcome obesity and other health problems?

Comments (10)

  1. Added 14:29 May 18, 2010

    yes, this is the best to keep the student healthy, but it should be in the last hours of the day, coz if the students sweat, then it is very difficult to sit in the class coz of the odour as well as the tiredness, yes we know the uae schools are well equipped with the air conditions, as we had the same thing in india too, as we had a 45 minute of the PT (physical training) period in the last hours of the day.

    sohail ali, dubai, India

  2. Added 13:24 May 18, 2010

    When it's time for a change toward a healthy lifestyle, knowing the benefits will help keep you on track. For instance, knowing that losing just 10 percent of your body weight can add to your life-span is a great incentive to eat right and exercise more. Finally, for total health, improve your mental state by keeping stress under control. Maintaining good health is a lot easier when you have a habitually healthy lifestyle, of course making healthy living a habit is easier said than done. Having a healthy body is a wonderful feeling and sometimes I wonder why more people don't aim for a healthy body fat range and give themselves more energy. Nothing feels better than a good health and few things taste better than looking good feels. these days due to time constraint many of us just eat a lot of junk foods which is bad for our health . as we all have be come so exhausted at the end of the day many of us would like to eat what ever we get but we need to watch what we are eating so that we can maintain a healthy life style. Exercise, eating nourishing foods, controlling oily and fatty foods would help a person a lot to be remain fit and healthy. Better lifestyle habits can help you reduce your risk for heart attack . a healthy person doesn't smoke, is at a healthy weight, eats healthy and exercises. Sounds simple, doesn't it?

    Mathew Litty , Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  3. Added 12:56 May 18, 2010

    I admire the step taken by HAAD and hope it will be implemented in its true spirit. Obesity is a disease itself and this trend in adolescents poses a greater risk toward healthy and energetic generation. Besides making it mandatory for schools to impart physical education, the relevant authorities should endeavor to promote a culture where sports and healthy physical activities are encouraged. Public awareness programs should be arranged to educate people of the hazards of junk food. Sports facilities should be made accessible to all.

    Anonymous, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

  4. Added 12:44 May 18, 2010

    It is a good move to start curb obesity. Schools should encourage children to engage in sports and to have a healthy life style as well. I recommend to have sports family day to every school to encourage also the parents to participate in sports. Both parents and children will be healthy and enjoy life.

    Madette de Jesus, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates

  5. Added 11:57 May 18, 2010

    This is a fantastic move by the Government. I also suggest to have parks & playgrounds (FOC) close to residential areas. This would help the whole family to get some exercise each day.

    Anonymous, Dubai, Afghanistan

  6. Added 10:46 May 18, 2010

    Most schools in the UAE only concentrate on studies and do not have any sports activities integrated in to their curriculum. Sports should be part and parcel of education which will benefit children in healthy eating habits as well as in many other ways. Schools should also make it mandotory that children carry healthy tiffin boxes to school.

    Anonymous, Dubai, Sri Lanka

  7. Added 09:31 May 18, 2010

    Hats Off... One of best move and most important... "HEALTH IS WEALTH"

    Sarfaraz , Dubai, India

  8. Added 09:19 May 18, 2010

    We need sports facility not to far from the town proper thats all, goverment should do the first move like table tennis , basketball court, badminton etc.

    Willy, Abu Dhabi, Philippines

  9. Added 09:12 May 18, 2010

    Decisions like this r surely to be welcomed.............. this will help kidz to become active,atleast upto a small extend......

    faaifeeq, abudhabi, India

  10. Added 06:33 May 18, 2010

    There should be some activities for house wives also

    Fatima, Al Ain, Afghanistan

More from UAE Health

  1. Golden Hour crucial to a patient's survival

  2. Helping hand surgeons have long sought

  3. In Mind

  4. At times, I think of committing suicide

All articles in Health

More from UAE

Gulf News
Popular in UAE

More from UAE

Crackdown

Passports seized in Dish TV crackdown

Dubai airport

Swords, knives, fake guns seized in Dubai

India-Pakistan

New visa rules thrill cross-border couples

Latest news
Community Reports

More from Community Reports

Weather

More from Weather

Gallery

A pick of the best pictures taken by readers

Video

In the lanes of Deira Spice Souq