Expressnews
Chennai, April 25, 2023 – Sportz Village, through its award-winning EduSports in-school Physical Education & Sports program has been working to improve sports education in India since 2009 and has been assessing children’s health on a national level for the past 12 years. Schools play an important role in promoting physical activity among students. The spread of COVID-19 led to the closure of schools across the world. Students stayed at home, without walking to and from school, without going in and out of the classroom without Physical Education, without recess and without any sports activity. Sportz Village recently conducted a survey in Chennai to gauge the difference between children who took part in online physical education classes and children who didn’t take part. The survey revealed that the children who did not take part in any online physical education classes displayed alarmingly poor fitness levels.
Sportz Village compared the difference in the performance of children who took part in online classes during Covid and those who did not. The survey uncovered the children who took part in online PE classes were 16 % healthier compared to children who did not take part in the online classes. The children were assessed on different physical fitness parameters such as – Upper Body Strength, Lower Body Strength, Core Strength, Flexibility, Aerobic Capacity & Anaerobic Capacity. This clearly shows that even a ‘reduced’ form of structured physical activity (in this case – online PE classes) has a major impact when children have no access to playgrounds. In Chennai, children who took part in the online classes performed better in all physical fitness parameters except Lower Body Strength, and in Delhi, children fared better in all physical fitness parameters except Upper Body Strength & Flexibility.
Speaking on the survey Saumil Majmudar, CEO & Managing Director, Sportz Village, said “Physical activity is an essential part of a healthy lifestyle for children and schools can play an influential role in helping students engage in physical exercise.School children who took online physical education classes during the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated better fitness levels compared to those who did not participate in such classes.Covid or No Covid, physical activity and play are imperative for a child’s holistic development and at Sportz Village we aim to revolutionize the way fitness and sports can be implemented in a child’s routine.”
