ABU DHABI // Every state school will increase the amount of physical education on its curriculum as part of a Ministry of Education plan to improve the health of the country’s youth. The role of sports will dramatically expand in the government school system, and – for the first time – schools will field their own teams. At present, most government schools devote little time to physical education, and very few have organised sports.
Last autumn, the ministry launched a programme to expand the physical education and health curriculum in schools, created at the initiative of Princess Haya bint al Hussein, the wife of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, the Vice-President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
After a review of the pilot programme, in which 71 schools participated, Dr Hanif Hassan, the Minister of Education, broadened the initiative to include all 735 state schools in the country.
“Our advanced academic programmes and curriculums concentrate on extra-curricular activities and lifestyle skills that suit the century’s needs and requirements,” said Dr Hassan.
Many international schools devote considerable resources to sports programmes. At the American Community School in Abu Dhabi, for example, students participate in after-school activities ranging from drama and Model United Nations to volleyball and football. No state schools offer a comparable range of activities.
The Ministry will hold training courses for physical education and health teachers at Zayed University’s College of Health Services. Some teachers will be sent abroad to observe PE classes.
A recent survey of UAE children between the ages of13 and 15, conducted by the World Health Organisation, concluded that “youth risk-taking behaviour is alarming” in the UAE.
“There are several unfavourable dietary behaviours and secondary lifestyles that have led to increasing rates of obesity,” the authors of the survey concluded.
Of the 15,790 students who participated in the survey, 33.6 per cent were overweight or at risk of becoming so.
The survey also revealed children in the UAE tended to be inactive: only 19.5 per cent of those polled said they had been physically active for 60 minutes in the week prior to the survey, while 38.8 per cent spent three or more hours a day sitting down.
The survey also suggested that the eating habits of many children in the UAE were poor: 25 per cent of students reported consuming two or more soft drinks a day; 18 per cent ate at a fast-food restaurant three or more times within the past week; and only 18.5 per cent ate fruits and vegetables more than five times per day within a 30-day period.