Compulsory online fitness programme for students: Education Ministry
View(s):The Education Ministry is to introduce the mandatory daily fitness programme via online for home-bound school students, as concerns have been raised over a physically unfit student population with no sports or fitness training, an Education Ministry official said recently.
A daily half hour fitness programme will be introduced on the Ministry’s e-thaksalawa education e-portal this week, Education Ministry Sports Director Daya Bandara said. He said teachers were told to encourage students to watch and get involved in the fitness programme before morning lessons begin.
“For the past six months, most students have been homebound, studying online. They are exposed to electronic devices for long periods of time and they are not able to go to playgrounds or get involved in sports. This will trigger health issues both mentally and physically,” he added.
At present some zonal and provincial education departments have introduced such fitness programmes to schools in their respective areas.
“For sports, there are online coaching sessions. We have also obtained permission for individual training for students representing national teams and pool meets. However, the majority are left with no sports or fitness at all,” Mr Bandara said.
Earlier this year, Health Services Director General Asela Gunawardena instructed the Education Ministry to introduce the daily half hour fitness programme for students when schools re-opened.
Dr. Gunawardena also released a list of sports considered to be of low, moderate and high risk in terms of the spread of COVID-19.
Rugby, kabaddi, boxing, rope pulling, wushu sanda, judo, karate (kumite), angampora and other martial arts, lifesaving, involving mouth to mouth resuscitation, as high risk sports with more human contact.
Volleyball, handball, netball, basketball, football have been declared as medium high risk due to the same ball being passed between players.
Cricket, hockey, elle, squash, beach volleyball have been considered as low medium risk. Table tennis, tennis, badminton, athletics, rowing, water sports, surfing, aerobics, gymnastics (depending on sanitised equipment after every use), rifle shooting, weight lifting, billiards and snooker, golf, hiking, fencing, karate, taekwondo poomsae, wushu-thavulu, fencing, board games, bodybuilding, cycling were declared as safe sports with low risk.
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