Chronicle Editor
Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday News Reporter
A STUDY by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has indicated that a majority of the country’s primary school learners do not meet World Health Organisation (WHO) required levels of physical activity during and after school, with as much as 13,2 percent of Zimbabwe’s primary school children obese or overweight.
This was revealed by the School Based Learners’ Nutrition, Physical Fitness and Physical Activity Profiles Baseline Study (NPFPA), which was instituted as a follow up to the Zimbabwe’s Welcome Reception for Olympians Report.
That NPFPA report was instituted after the realisation that despite the abundance of sporting talent in the country, Zimbabwe only sent five Olympians to the globe’s biggest sporting extravaganza in 2021. The study was undertaken by the Zimbabwe Physical Education and Sport Teachers Association in collaboration with the National University of Science and Technology (Nust). It was done across 40 primary schools in Zimbabwe, paying particular attention to Grade Five and Six learners in the country’s ten provinces.
According to the study, besides obesity, 8,7 percent of the study subjects exhibited signs of stunted growth.
“In terms of weight status; the majority had normal weight (80,4 percent), thin (6,3 percent), overweight (9,3 percent) and obese (3,9 percent). Weight status by gender males were normal weight (80,3 percent), thin (8,4 percent), overweight (10,4 percent) and obese (4,5 percent) and females’ normal weight (80,5 percent), thin (4,6 percent), overweight (5,7 percent) and obese 4,5 percent). In terms of linear growth status, the majority were growing normally (91,2 percent) and a few were stunted (8,7 percent). Regarding stunting by gender, a greater proportion were males (5,7 percent) compared to females (3,1 percent),” the study read.
The study also noted how some of the country’s primary school children tended to be inactive even during Physical Education (PE) classes while a relatively large portion also did not partake in any sporting activities.
“In terms of general PA (physical activity) participation at school during PE 12,7 percent were not active, 39,8 percent hardly ever; during break 23 percent sat around while 19,8 percent stood around; during lunch 21,4 percent sat around while 42,1 percent stood around. In terms of sports participation after school 20,2 percent did not participate, while 25,3 percent participated just one time; in the evenings 28,7 percent did not participate while 39,9 percent participated just one time and during weekends 21,6 percent did not participate while 24,8 percent participated just one time,” the report read.
Despite World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines stipulating that pupils should have 60 minutes of physical activity per day, only 2,7 percent were physically active for at least 60 minutes and above. This is despite the fact that 58,8 percent walk and 21,4 percent cycle to school. The study thus concluded that majority of pupils do not meet the WHO guidelines of hours of physical activity and display moderate and low levels of physical activity, while there is low participation in physical activities and sport at school and after school.
“In terms of sedentary behaviour, relatively few learners watch TV and listen to the radio during the week for 2 hours or more (20,5 percent) with 18,8 percent indicating that they never watched TV or listened to the radio. During the weekends the trend is the same, 18,4 percent watched TV or listened to the radio 2 or more hours with 13,1 percent having neither watched TV nor listened to the radio.
“Relatively few used computers and other gadgets doing schoolwork for two hours or more during the week (14,5 percent) with 27,3% indicating that they never used the gadgets. During weekends very few (7,6 percent) indicated that they used gadgets for schoolwork for 2 hours or more while 16,5 percent indicated that they never used the gadgets,” the study said.
The country’s boarding schools were also put under the microscope, with the study revealing that minimum physical activity and dietary standards needed to be set at such institutions.
“Boarding schools require specific minimum physical activity and dietary needs standards based on learner’ fitness levels obtained from tests,” the study said.
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