Muscat: 'A sound mind in a sound body,' is an evergreen quote for fitness, particularly for school students. It goes beyond doubt that schools should strike a balance between academic and sporting activities. Nevertheless, sports is an important educational activity, a process that helps achieve the fitness goals of a country, training for which starts at an early age.
Underlining this importance, every school should have a teacher specialising in physical education.
Not only do the students learn the importance of sports activities, they learn about the importance of outdoor activities and the dangers of being obese. The habits inculcated during the school days remain with the students forever.
Sports classes help create a spirit of healthy competition among the students, develop teamwork, take advantage of free time with useful activities, help them eliminate negative energies, and raise practical efficiency.
Students also have an opportunity to participate in and compete in competitions and develop new sporting skills. It provides an opportunity to develop communication and rapprochement between teachers and students.
Also, it helps solve problems of confusion, eliminate negative energies, and reduce excessive movements through playing and creating an atmosphere of entertainment in schools.
Physical training teachers and psychology experts call sporting activities a nice way to develop practical temperament, improve academic retention, and develop mental health and memory.
Sports classes help reduce the phenomenon of school dropouts, bad habits like smoking, and the exploitation of leisure time with useful activities in terms of health and aesthetics.
Physical activity brings significant benefits to the health of the heart, body, and mind. as per reports, the risk of death increases by 20 to 30 per cent in people who do not get enough physical activity compared to people who do enough physical activity.
Despite all the advantages mentioned above, more than 80 per cent of the world's adolescent population does not get enough physical activity.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines physical activity as any bodily movement of skeletal muscles that requires energy, including activities during work, play, household tasks, travel and recreational activities.
Dr Madeeha al Shaibaniyah, Minister of Education, has stressed the importance of school sports in all schools of the Sultanate of Oman.
Through the school sports curriculum, the students can choose the game of their choice, suiting their physical and technical capabilities.
Giving due importance to sports in schools, the Oman School Sports Association was announced in 2016 to encourage and promote talented students in sports.
The Ministry of Education is currently working on establishing new schools with complete sports facilities and maintaining damaged facilities in the old schools, in addition to a plan to develop new facilities in schools that completely lack facilities.
Thus, exercise is an activity a student must do daily, whether at school or at home.
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