Lack of Exercise Means Students Likely to Carry a Heavy Burden

Weight is a growing issue as sixth national fitness survey begins. Gao Qihui in Beijing reports.
He Xiaopeng spends most nights and weekends behind a desk with his nose in a book. Fearing that his grades will fall, the 13-year-old's parents send him for extra English and Chinese classes.
Although short for his age and slightly chubby, the Beijing schoolboy gets barely any time to exercise.
"No, I'm not satisfied with his physique," said his 40-year-old mother Xiao Guifen. "But his studies are more important right now."
Physical education - or PE for short - takes a back seat to exam results for many parents, a fact experts say is potentially creating China's unhealthiest generation.
As the country starts its sixth nationwide survey on the overall condition of students, most predict it will simply reinforce the belief that the number of unfit and obese children continues to soar.
About 2,000 schools and 350,000 young people aged 7 to 22 (maximum 18 for ethnic groups) will take part in the 2010 test, which marks students on speed, explosive force, strength and endurance with a 50-meter sprint, a standing long jump, pull-ups and a long-distance run (1 km for boys and 800 meters for girls).
Results of the last survey five years ago were not easy reading, with dramatic declines seen in almost all age groups in all four events.
However, worse news was to come in 2009, when the Report on Child Nutrition and Health co-authored by researchers with the National Committee for the Well-being of Youth revealed China had 12 million overweight children, roughly 7 percent of the global total.
In Beijing alone, the number of overweight primary and middle school students hit 19.5 percent last year, up 1.2 percentage points, according to the central government's 2009 White Paper on Sanitation and Health.
"It's obvious that the physical condition of students has worsened in recent decades," said Wang Heping, a PE teacher of 34 years at the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE) in Beijing. "The biggest drops are in endurance and strength, while flexibility is also very bad."
The simplest explanation is arguably the lack of time young people today spend exercising.
The Report on Child Nutrition and Health states less than 9 percent of middle school students exercise regularly, dropping to 5 percent for those at primary school.
Principals points
Naturally, China's exam-obsessed education system is taking much of the blame for the deterioration in students' conditions. "It's the root reason," said Sun Yunxiao, deputy director of the China Youth and Children Research Center. "The emphasis is on test scores, not physical well-being. Pupils are being assigned too much homework, leaving no time for exercise."
Students told China Daily that scheduled PE classes at their schools and colleges often make way for extra study time or are shortened by other classes running long. At many public elementary schools, students are not even allowed to leave the classrooms during recess, according to Zhang Min, 36, whose 10-year-old daughter attends Hepingli No 9 Primary School in Beijing's Dongcheng district.
"Basically, schools are afraid of taking responsibility if students get injured during activities or exercises, so they stop students leaving the classroom," said Jin Pansuo, mother of a fifth-grader at the capital's Huixinli Elementary School.
"My son risks being punished (by the teachers) if he runs or makes a noise during class breaks," she added.
Veteran teacher Wang at the UIBE explained that many school principals are wary of China's growing litigation culture, which is being largely fueled by parents from one-child families.
Last month, a primary school in Shanghai's Minhang district was ordered to pay more than 50,000 yuan ($7,500) to a student who broke his right arm playing leapfrog during recess.
"If a child gets injured, the school or university takes the blame," he said. "So to avoid problems, schools set lower standards for their students and PE instructors tend to go more easy."
But it is not only schools are to blame. Families too are falling short when it comes to encouraging children to lead healthy lifestyles.
A 2009 survey of 300 primary and middle school students in Beijing by the China National Institute for Educational Research (CNIER) found that 74 percent had never taken part in any form of exercise with their parents.
Almost 70 percent of respondents also complained they are often banned from leaving the house after school to play or exercise with friends.
"I have to do my homework after school and have no spare time for exercise," said Shi Yang, a second-grade student at a middle school in Beijing's Chaoyang district.
Shi has attended extra classes every Saturday since she started as a senior, although she added that some elementary students get only half a day of rest on weekends.
One of those youngsters is Zhang Min's daughter. "I've signed her up for two weekend classes, dancing and English," said Zhang, who like many parents believe children involved in extra-curricular activities stand a better chance of getting into good schools and colleges.
More than two-thirds of the students interviewed by the CNIER last year said they spend more than two hours doing homework every day, with the same proportion also enrolled in after-school classes during weekends and holidays.
Zhang said she is fully aware of the pressure her daughter is under but "as there's such tough competition for good middle schools, she has to cope with it".
The entrance examination is too difficult for elementary school students because the content is beyond what the pupils are taught in class, she added.
Pastimes and diets
Health and education experts also criticize the increasing reliance on television, the Internet and games consoles, which many describe as "easy alternatives to exercise".
Before the widespread introduction of television 20 years ago, students used to indulge in outside activities and sport, but all that has changed.
Today, the three favorite things for young people to do is chat or play games online, listen to music and watch television, said Wu Jian, director of the CNIER's physical, health and arts education center, who is also a member of the panel responsible for organizing and analyzing the 2010 national physical condition survey.
"Their chief pastimes are now ones of inactivity," he said. And with living standards improving across China thanks to rapid economic growth, youngsters are now better fed than previous generations. However, nutritional experts say their diets leave a lot to be desired.
In the past decade, the average weight of Beijing students aged 7 to 18 has increased faster than the average height, reported the 2009 White Paper on Sanitation and Health.
In 2007, the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council jointly issued a notice on strengthening physical education in schools and improving the condition of children. The regulations require primary and middle schools to organize one-hour group exercise sessions on school days when there is no PE class.
"The central government has put great importance on the physical condition of students but the key is implementation," said Huang Jin, who works in the youth department at the State General Administration of Sport.
Beijing's municipal authorities in 2009 announced that its standard of sanhao xuesheng, the Chinese term for honor students, will require excellent results in physical condition and health tests.
This year, for the first time, the PE section of the capital's senior high school entrance exam also featured a progress-based assessment that accounted for 25 percent of the final score.
However, Sun Yunxiao at the China Youth and Children Research Center said he feels the measures are "too utilitarian" and the risk is that, once students pass the exam, they will simply give up exercising.
"We should help students develop a good habit of exercise and a love of sport," he said.
Regarding diets, Sun suggested China learns from Japan, where primary and middle school students are provided with nutritious, balanced lunches of meat and vegetables that are specially designed by professional dietitians.
Meanwhile, the State General Administration of Sport is attempting to get more children involved in exercise nationwide by supporting 3,500 clubs to guide and organize students safely and scientifically.
"We hope these clubs will help students form one or two lifelong hobbies," said Huang.
However, schools should also be required to provide a good exercise environment to every student, said Mao Zhenming, dean of Beijing Normal University's school of physical education and sports.
"A criterion of sports facilities needs to be established for schools," he said. "It is still possible to reach a win-win situation of quality study and sufficient time for exercise."