Schoolchildren in north Indian metros are less healthier than their counterparts in the country, says ‘EduSports School Health and Fitness Survey’.
The survey covered around 49000 children in 7-19 years age-group across 100 schools in 54 cities. Children from Northern states of Punjab, Delhi, Rajasthan, UP and Haryana have a higher BMI of 24% as compared to national average of 19.9%.
The survey added that nearly 40 per cent of school-going children in India do not have the right BMI and almost 20 per cent of them show signs of obesity, possessing poor body strength, poor flexibility and have undesirable BMI scores.
Geographically, children in the non-metros performed better across various fitness parameters compared to their counterparts in the metros.
One out of four children in the metros is overweight compared to one out of six children in the non-metros. Additionally, children in non-metros also demonstrated better anaerobic capabilities and flexibility.
Further, nearly one in two children covered under the study had poor flexibility levels and body strength making them unsuitable for most sports.
Girls fared better than boys, as a total of 63.9 per cent of them had a better overall BMI and flexibility as compared to 58.2 per cent of the boys.
However, lack of infrastructure to play is not the primary reason behind the falling fitness levels as children from schools that did not have sufficient infrastructure did equally well compared to schools that had sufficient infrastructure for children to play.
