China's health experts have
warned of a younger generation doomed to short lives riddled with illness unless
urgent measures are taken to improve the fitness of the nation's children.
Claims that authorities were ignoring the plummeting standards of youth
health followed a national survey showing one in four boys in China's cities was
clinically overweight or obese.
The survey published by the Ministry of Education has been conducted four
times on nearly 1.6 million urban students since 1985.
The obesity rate of Beijing students last year rose by 50 percent from 2000,
and 52 percent had poor eyesight.
Fifty-eight percent of middle school students were short-sighted, with the
rate rising to 76 percent of high school students and 83 percent of college
students.
In Beijing, more than half of the middle school students were found to have
abnormally high blood pressure and more than 60 percent of high school students
had the same problem, according to another survey launched in 2005.
"Their joints are seizing up, their muscles are becoming flabby and their
movements are uncoordinated due to lack of exercise," said Mao Zhenming, head of
the School of Physical Education and Sports Science of the Beijing Normal
University.
Yang Guiren, director of the Sports, Health and Arts Department of the
Ministry of Education, attributed the deterioration to modern lifestyles, where
urban dwellers eschew the stairs for the lift, travel by car and do little
physical labor.
However, the exam-oriented education system, in which students studied for
long hours with little exercise time, was also to blame.
Some experts believe poor public awareness of the necessity of physical
exercise and the harm of obesity are obstacles to improving youngsters' health.
Many parents paid too much attention to their children's studies, believing
exercise to be waste of time, said an expert with the Healthcare Institute for
Primary and Middle School Students in Taiyuan City, capital of north China's
Shanxi Province.
Moreover, many parents believed improved living standards automatically led
to a better diet and healthy growth, allowing children to eat high-calorie
foods, the expert said.
"My son likes KFC and McDonald's very much and I take him there as a reward
for getting good exam marks," said parent Gao Guizhen.
However, Gao was unaware of the unhealthy effects of junk food. "It is so
popular among the children.... They should be okay."
The problem is exacerbated by a shortage of trained P.E. teachers and
facilities in schools, which limits the access of students to proper physical
exercise.
"The number of P.E. teachers in China, about 370,000, is far from enough to
meet the needs of students, especially in western regions," said Yang.
Most schools in western regions had few facilities that meet national
standards and some even lacked adequate playgrounds, he said.
Last November in Qinyuan County, Shanxi Province, 19 students and a teacher
were killed by a truck when they were jogging along a highway. One of the causes
of the tragedy was their school did not have proper running tracks on the
campus.
Wang Xiaowei, a P.E. teacher at the Taiyuan University of Technology, said
the general content of P.E. class was unpopular with students.
Compared with on-line games and other modern attractions, P.E. classes seemed
boring and outdated. "They would rather spend time in Internet bars than on the
playground," he said.
"More varied programs targeting the features and interests of students at
different ages should be introduced to the P.E. class, " Wang said.
Physical deterioration also triggered mental problems, said Mao Zhenming, who
worried that China's youth would lack the physical and mental faculties needed
to compete in the future.
The government had realized the situation and taken measures, said Yang. In
2000, the Ministry of Education reformed the curriculum in primary and middle
schools, adding another hour to P.E. time.
As a result, the first to third graders in primary schools had four classes
of P.E. (about 40 minutes each class) every week, the fourth graders up had
three classes.
The proportion of P.E. in overall high school credits had also been raised.
In order to ease the staff shortage pressure, the ministry had improved pay
and insurance to attract college graduates who majored in sports to train as
P.E. teachers.
Meanwhile, the ministry was considering recruiting part-time P.E. teachers
from other subjects with short-term training, said Yang.
Developed regions were being required to list obesity as a common illness in
school disease control plans with targeted high-risk groups of primary and
middle school students, said health expert Ji Chengye.
The underdeveloped regions needed to control obesity and malnutrition at the
same time, said Ji, a professor in Peking University.
