Childhood Obesity – A Serious Concern of the Future Generation

We are living in a world of advertisements where everything is treated from a business point of view. The fast-moving world and super busy individuals made our homes filled with ready made items, especially when it comes to the food habits. Kids being the direct victims of all these, end up eating junk food from a very young age. Not only that, lack of play area near home, and the excessive influence of technology is keeping them away from physical activities which result in childhood obesity or overweight.

Though this term is quite familiar to all of us, seldom we understand the far reaching consequences of it. Negligence of this may end up carving a future generation ‘good for nothing’. Homemade meals and public play areas slowly vanish from our lives and we are happily getting adjusted to the change.

Childhood obesity is often associated with numerous health issues which may also turn fatal in some cases. Schools can play a pivotal role here to re-write the future and shape a generation which is healthy and mentally stable. 

Food Education

Education not only means the classroom lessons about the curriculum. Food education is highly necessary for the present scenario where children are left with no option but junk. Lack of awareness is the main villain here due to which children are not able to choose the right thing for them. Educate them about the importance of health and fitness along with food habits that can make a huge difference. Once they understand the need for being healthy and consequences of unhealthy food habits, they would be capable to take the wise decision on their own.

Importance of physical activities

Shifting to healthy eating habits will bring the initial positive changes in the life of a child, but obesity prevention cannot end there. Physical activities are mandatory to keep them healthy and fit. Most of the children these days suffer from childhood obesity. They can get back to their healthy life if they are encouraged into physical activities. Many of the Bangalore international schools have started compulsory physical activity programs to defeat the battle with childhood obesity. These activities could include exercise, swimming, dancing, sports, playground activities and so on. 

Awareness to parents

Along with children, parents should also have the awareness to build a healthy future generation. A few of the top Bangalore IB schools have conducted awareness workshops for parents to warn them about the consequences and teach them some healthy practices.

The Quintessential Health Education Programs in Schools

Children often find it difficult to adjust to the obvious physical changes during adolescence. Understanding one’s body will let them figure out the health problems that they experience so as they get appropriate medical attention during this time. A complete health education session has become an inevitable part of school curriculum these days. Starting from a very young age, health education needs to be provided so that children will have an awareness of their health and body while growing. There are many factors associated with health education programs. A few of them are:

To focus more on primary health care of children

Children encounter various health issues and bodily changes in their growing age. Quite often they tend to panic at some of these changes and avoid the symptoms due to lack of awareness. Health education in schools will help understand their body and the possible diseases they may get during that age. The young ones will be able to take care of their hygiene issues for avoiding probable illnesses. Along with the health education sessions, if we are able to train them about the primary health care methods, children could avoid many of those regular hospital visits.

It will take them through the journey of adolescence

The most crucial time period of a child’s growth is through their adolescence. Here, be it a boy or girl experience a plethora of changes physically and mentally. The first and foremost thing here is the appropriate awareness that a child should have regarding this stage of life. We have to make them realise that it is natural and they shall not panic. Apart from the bodily changes, the child goes through tremendous mental struggles at this point. It is only through proper guidance and counselling, the teacher or trainer can regain the confidence of a child. The more they learn about these things the better they deal with it. 

It helps them develop in a better way

Health education programs in schools will help the children gain mental maturity in the right form. As they get to know about their body and mind, they tend to develop a self-protecting mechanism to control their health issues and mental conditions. Also, they would be able to understand the similar condition of their friends and would be more compassionate. 

Schools and teachers are the main motivators here who can assist these kids to grow in the right direction. Recently best schools in Mohali conducted a whole week of health education workshops for both children and parents, which turned out to be a very successful event.

The Impact of ICT in School Education

The Information and Technology revolution demolished the barriers in communication and created a new world without boundaries on online platforms. Since it is a global procedure, every sphere of life got connected with it. The young generation is also enjoying great advantages of ICT as they get everything under one roof to study and enhance their knowledge. The only point of concern here is the misuse of such beneficial system. It is the duty of the parents and teachers to educate our children to responsibly use the privilege given to them. 

If we look at the present education methods, most of the classrooms make use of ICT for advanced teaching practices.  Since our children are growing amidst technology, it would be easy for the teachers to get connected with the children and share the information in the most appropriate way that they are familiar with. 

The advantages of ICT for children

ICT is a universal phenomenon that has the potential to influence and educate people of every age group. Children who are going through the learning stage are the ones who can make the most out of it. If a school and their education system can enable their students to use ICT for their learning purpose, half of their effort can be reduced as it can retain the interest the children. Many children find it difficult to understand Mathematics and a few of the science subjects. In such cases, ICT can be of great help as the teacher can form programs and teaching patterns that can be digested easily through technology. Children of Primary Classes find it more interesting as it uses more visual learning that has more impact compared to conventional method. 

In developing countries like India, where education is the way forward, the advancement in the Information and Communication Technology should be given the priority. Fortunately, the changing trends in Indian education system offer a humongous amount of opportunity to ICT, especially in the international schools all over the country. Many of the Bangalore Schools are making use of ICT these days to enhance their teaching methods and curriculum.

The only hurdle that occurs here is in the case of underprivileged children in our country who does not have the access to computers or such ICT enabling accessories apart from the schools. If our government can take any action to reduce the insufficiency, all the children in our land would be able to create a great future for themselves.