In my article, “The national problem of obesity: physical education on a daily basis”, (TMID, 7 December), which till this date was never criticised, I had stated that PE should be given more importance in schools. I placed PE at the same level with mathematics, English and Maltese. Now, I noticed that the Malta Labour Party is proposing that the national minimum curriculum should be updated to reflect better the need for PE in schools.
In another newspaper, Health Minister Louis Deguara had already been reported saying, “schools should take up a recommendation of the World Health Organisation to include an hour’s daily exercise for children in their curriculum”. So key politicians are more or less on same positive wavelength, irrespective of the political parties they represent.
However, I feel that I should explain the thinking behind that article, especially now that it is gaining importance. School children, unfortunately, usually find it hard to take healthy decisions on their own. So, most organisations nowadays believe that when it comes to nutrition in schools, it is not enough to just preach to avoid eating junk food and sugary drinks and go for fruit and milkshakes instead. Most stakeholders believe that we should go one step further and apply “force”. They are suggesting that tuck shop foods should be legally controlled.
The same philosophy therefore applies for physical activity. Unless it is mandatory, most children would not comply and take it very seriously. Even if there are children who are willing to do physical activity (run, play football, skip a rope, etc) during their breaks, this should not be the only solution. Their break is free for them to utilise it as they wish. After all, they need to eat their lunches, talk with their friends, and relax as well during their breaks. So, physical activity should not take over their breaks.
On the other hand, PE should not be given secondary importance by placing it after school hours. I do not think that children are taken out for cultural tours after school hours. And as I said before, PE should be given its due importance as the rest of the compulsory subjects held during normal school hours.
The reason why I prefer to use the abbreviation PE rather than PT (physical training) is that the letter ‘E’ stands for ‘education’ thus showing that the Education Sector has a very important and direct role in the physical formation of children. Suggesting alternatives outside school hours would be simply removing this responsibility from schools. The major drawback that I see however is that schools finish too early!
C. Micallef
Fgura