Strategies for Schools and Communities in Promoting Physical Activity in Children.

Introduction

According to the global nutrition philosophy, the human body requires 20 percent of physical activity every day for the maintenance of overall health and well-being. Practicing regular physical activity promotes physical fitness, improves cardiovascular health, and digestive health, and strengthens the muscles and bones contributing to generalized well-being benefitting all age groups, and especially preventing childhood obesity. Physical activity also enhances cognitive skills, improves a child’s academic performance, elevates mood, and keeps anxiety and depression at bay. On the other hand, a sedentary lifestyle increases the risk of obesity, and cardiovascular diseases and affects the quality of life. Recent studies reveal that young children are not meeting the global standards of a 60-minute workout in schools. Hence the schools and the local communities should take necessary actions to instill the importance of physical activity and its influence on general health among school children.

What Are the WHO Guidelines Enlisted Concerning the Physical Activity for All Age Groups?

1. 150 minutes of physical activity per week involving walking and simple exercises for pregnant and postpartum women.

2. 150 to 300 minutes of physical activity per week for adults and the elderly.

3. 60 minutes of workout per week is recommended for children and adolescents.

4. The WHO also recommends a minimum of two days of muscle-strengthening workout sessions for adults and three days of physical activities involving various exercises for improving balance and strength in the elderly.

5. Also, everyone who can afford to be physically active without any serious ailments can practice workout sessions for more than 300 minutes per week.

6. Also limiting the sedentary lifestyle is encouraged.

7. The WHO emphasizes indulging in any kind of activity instead of doing nothing so that the sedentary time is replaced by some physical activity.

What Are the Policies Devised to Encourage Physical Activities Among the School Children?

1. Global Action Plan on Physical Activity (2018–2030):

• Emphasizes providing physical education and creating opportunities for recreation like organizing sports for school children and involving the whole of the school (pre-primary, primary, secondary, and tertiary groups) and ensuring the active participation of all age groups.

• To inculcate the importance of physical activity which helps in providing betterment of overall health and promotes longevity.

2. Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity (2016):

• Provision of all the required facilities in schools for encouraging physical activities and scheduling the timetable for sports during school hours.

• Children with disabilities are also given equal importance and special arrangements should be made to involve them actively in games.

• Physical education should be included in the curriculum and staff should be recruited to provide physical education in schools.

3. Kazan Action Plan (2017):

• Promoting quality physical education in every school and making learning active.

• Emphasizes on developing various skills to stay fit among school children through sports activities.

4. Quality Physical Education (QPE) Guidelines for Policy-Makers (2015):

• This is an initiative of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization).

• This policy focuses on revising the physical education policies and believes in providing equal access to physical activities to every single child in the school.

5. Making Every School a Health- Promoting School - Implementation Guidance (2021) And Global Standards and Indicators (2021):

• Both policies are initiated by combined efforts of WHO (World Health Organisation) and UNESCO.

• These guidelines are enlisted in schools, colleges, and other policy-making sectors to facilitate physical education and its importance for the overall development and growth of children and should be given equal importance as other subjects.

What Are the Measures Taken to Promote Physical Activity in Schools?

Encouraging Physical Activities by Providing Physical Education:

• Physical education encourages every child to participate in physical activities.

• Involving in physical activities instills confidence in the child and promotes physical well-being and longevity in the long run.

• Prevents children from being inactive and encourages them to be active and lively throughout the day.

The efforts include:

1. Physical education should be given equal importance to the other subjects in the curriculum.

2. Should not be replaced by other subjects and every child irrespective of age, gender, and ability.

3. The schools should hire experts or trained staff to teach physical education.

Encouraging to and From Active School Travel:

• Active to and from school travel refers to choosing walking, cycling, or any other active modes of transport to school every day instead of opting for motor vehicles.

• This can also include public transport like trains and buses as children need to walk to catch buses and trains.

• This will greatly enhance the activeness of students as it ensures daily physical activities among school students.

The efforts include:

1. Implementing an active travel plan.

2. Assessing the safety of the routes and streets in which the students commute.

3. Evaluate whether the local environment is friendly enough for daily travel.

Organizing Before and After School Physical Activities:

• Encouraging before- and after-school physical activities is a must and it is considered as an extracurricular activity and should not be included in the curriculum, hence, also referred to as out -out-of-school-hours (OSH) activities.

• OSH activities should be organized regularly by the school staff, volunteers, parents' sponsors, and local non-profit organizations and every student should be encouraged to participate either by making the entry free of cost or with minimal fee.

The efforts include:

1. Organizing after-school sports meets regularly.

2. Revising the OSH policies regularly.

3. Ensuring safe transport to every student attending the OSH programs.

Facilitating Physical Activities During the Recess or Recreation Time:

• School children of all grades from kindergarten to secondary school should be encouraged to utilize the recreational periods for games and sports activities.

• This enhances physical activities among children which prevents them from being inactive and takes away boredom. Also, sports activities provide confidence and improve communication skills which is very much required to perform well in school life.

The efforts include:

1. Devise timetables in such a way that recess or recreational periods are allotted regularly.

2. The recess time should not be utilized for taking other subject classes.

Promoting Active Classrooms:

• Active classrooms refer to engaging the children in physical activities of short duration during class hours as a part of the active learning process.

• This includes taking a three to five-minute break to make the children understand basic mathematics by counting steps.

• Also encourage various physical activities like jumping, and walking around the classrooms to keep the children active and bring them out of the sedentary mode.

• Also improves memory and concentration power as the children become more active during the learning process.

The efforts include:

1. The school management should work towards implementing active classrooms for all age groups.

2. The importance of active classrooms should be communicated to all the staff, students, and parents.

3. The teachers should be given all the support from the school authorities to conduct an active classroom system.

Providing Special Attention Towards the Betterment of Physically Challenged Students:

The UNESCO’s International Charter of Physical Education, Physical Activity and Sport emphasizes on “the practice of physical education, physical activity, and sport among the school children and is considered a fundamental right of all.

The efforts include:

1. Schools need to pay attention to special children by providing facilities for physical activity and should not be curbed from it because of their disability.

2. Specific staff should be recruited, who are trained in providing physical education and all the facilities in making the special child to be actively involved in physical activities.

Conclusion

Schools encouraging physical activities among all age groups can save small children from becoming obese and prevent the development of chronic diseases at a very young age with the cooperation of partners and school staff. Equal opportunities should be given to all children to be actively involved in physical activities. Also, efforts should be made to remove barriers to physical activities for special children with disabilities. Inculcating physical activities in the lives of school children will promote the importance of healthy active lifestyle choices overall and schools should aim to become health-promoting institutions.