- File
Physical education is being viewed as vital to promoting better lifestyles among the youth.
Leonardo Blair, Staff Reporter
AS MORE Jamaicans face problems of obesity and ill-health, several parents, Ministry of Health officials and fitness experts are now calling for physical education (P.E.) to be regimented throughout the entire high school curriculum, with appropriate instructors, to encourage healthier lifestyles.
While several high schools across the island dedicate at least one session to P.E. classes in all grades each week, grade 9-11 students in institutions such as Ardenne and Calabar high schools are not required to participate in P.E. classes. Officials at Ardenne High School say P.E. classes end at the third form while at Calabar High School only first and second form students are required to participate.
And the reason for this, says Edwin Murray, vice-principal of the G.C. Foster College of Physical Education and Sport, is that physical education in schools is "the principal's call".
The Ministry of Education, he says, has not yet made P.E. a part of the core curriculum so it is left up to the principal to decide how the subject is treated in the school and for most, he explains, "It is treated as the Cinderella of the lot. I think it's because physical education is not examinable at the moment. Even in the Ministry of Education itself, P.E. is not given any clear-cut role."
OPTIONAL SUBJECT
One official at the Edith Dalton James High School in St. Andrew explained, however, that P.E. is regimented up to the third form on their timetable. It was offered as an elective for students in the fourth and fifth forms at one point, but the attitude of the students towards the subject forced the school to drop it from the timetable in those forms altogether.
"It used to be optional along with music and Spanish and so on in Grades 10 and 11 and some students would select it. The problem was most of them were not going to the classes," said the official.
But with more than one-third of all adult men between 25 and 70 years being overweight or obese and two-thirds of their female counterparts also falling in this category, says Dr. Deanna Ashley, head of health promotion and protection in the Ministry of Health, regular participation in physical education is needed more than ever now. And the best place to start would be in our schools, she says.
"There needs to be much more opportunity for supervised activity and ensuring that everybody participates. It should not be seen as punishment," says Dr. Ashley. "What is important is that you develop a healthy lifestyle, not whether you get an A, B, C or D."
She explained that parents need to reduce the time teenagers use for watching television and playing video or computer games because "we are getting fatter and obese".
The youth, she explains, need to be taught the importance of physical activity and understand the importance of developing a healthy lifestyle.
"Physical activity teaches a whole host of things including discipline. We should be aiming for a minimum of 30 minutes of P.E. every day in our schools and get them to understand how important it is," she said.
All the parents or adults involved in a series of interviews conducted by The Sunday Gleaner last week also agreed that physical education is important enough to regiment throughout the entire high school duration.
"Physical education is as important as maths, English or the sciences," says Nadia Stewart, a parent. "Physical education helps children to socialise and sometimes they might have problems at home or with something else and trained teachers will see this being played out on the field. It is not just about the academics.
"I think physical education should be regimented throughout the high school years," said Milton Mason, a retired civil servant who worked with the Ministry of Education. "I believe it is a very good form of discipline."
NOT BEING VIEWED SERIOUSLY
Mr. Mason explained that when he retired from the Ministry of Education in the 1980s, "there were a number of physical education officers". However, when the Ministry was contacted for comment last week, The Sunday Gleaner was told that there was only one officer responsible for a unit in which physical education is lumped and that person was on "indefinite leave".
Mr. Murray, the G.C. Foster vice-principal, pointed out that as a result of the treatment of the subject by the Ministry of Education, some principals have been noted to employ "just about anybody" off the street identifying themselves as a pre-trained person while he/she would go to great lengths to get the best math or science teacher.
Just last month, the Jamaica Teachers' Association was lobbying for Government to employ more 'specialist teachers', particularly for art and craft, music and physical education in primary schools.
Recent studies by the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show the number of overweight children in that country has more than doubled in the last three decades, 5.3 million, or 12.5 per cent, of Americans between six and 17 are overweight or obese as a result of leading more sedentary lifestyles.
"We need to get up and smell the coffee," said Mr. Murray. "It is costing us more in the long run when we treat physical education like this. It is better if we help the children to develop the right attitudes (towards physical activity) and it might become a lifestyle."
