Revilla wants to include anti-obesity education program in school curriculum

Believing that physical activities help school children become fit and healthy, Senator Bong Revilla Jr. has filed a measure mandating the inclusion of an anti-obesity education program in pre-school, elementary and high schools' curricula, both public and private.

In filing Senate Bill 1121, Revilla sees that awareness, appreciation and responsibility of one's health should begin from childhood in order to build a strong foundation of a healthy lifestyle.

The measure mandates the inclusion of anti-obesity education program and exercise including play and traditional Filipino games in the basic education curriculum.

Results of the 8th National Nutrition Survey of the Food and Nutrition Research Institute conducted from June 2013 to April 2014 showed that 5% of children aged 0-5 and 8.3% of kids aged 10-19 are overweight, while 31.1% of adults are clinically obese.

Moreover, the prevalence rate of being overweight and obese among children 0-5 years old increases at 0.17% on average per year for the past 24 years.

The overweight prevalence among school-age and adolescent groups, meanwhile, goes up at 0.33% and 0.34% respectively in the last 10 years.

Senate Bill 1121 mandates the Department of Education to formulate specially-designed instructions to include anti-obesity activities in the learning schedule and to meet the physical health requirements of the students according to their age bracket.

“Dahil sa pagtaas ng overweight at obesity rate sa bansa, marami sa ating mga kababayan ay parang naglalakad na ‘time bomb’ dahil anumang oras, maaari nilang ikapahamak ang anumang komplikasyon sa kalusugan na dulot ng sobrang timbang," Revilla said.

"Hindi na natin dapat pang hintayin ang araw na iyon. Dapat ngayon pa lang, we should promote an active lifestyle among our youth para mapangalagaan sila,” he added. — Erwin Colcol/BM, GMA News