September 18, 2006 – A mandatory 20-minute daily period of physical activity is now on the schedule for all elementary school students in Ontario. The exercises are done in class, in the form of stretches or simple activities like jogging, for example.
This new period is in addition to the regular physical education classes already taken by Ontario schoolchildren at a rate of 100 minutes per week.
Ontario government’s initiative supports the recommendations of the Health Council of Canada1 (CCS) which urges the country’s authorities to react against the alarming increase in the rate of obesity among young people. The CCS points out, among other things, that more than a quarter of young people between the ages of 2 and 17 are obese or overweight, more than double than in the 1970s.
Domestically, the Ontario government has taken the lead in making physical activity a priority for several years now, especially among young people. At the start of the decade, the province notably set up its strategy called Vie Active 20102, aiming for 55% of the population to be physically active by 2010.
And in Quebec?
In Quebec, ten Quebec ministries and organizations have developed an action plan3 obesity-fighting spouse that was presented to government over the summer. The goal would be to facilitate the acquisition and maintenance of healthy lifestyle habits, including physical activity.
Pending the unveiling of this plan, this new school year coincides with the entry into force of 90 additional minutes of instruction in elementary schools in Quebec, in particular to make more room for physical activity. The Quebec Ministry of Education, Recreation and Sport suggests that schools devote 120 minutes per week to physical education and health.
Claudia Morissette – HealthPassport.net
1. The Health Council of Canada’s website: www.healthcouncilcanada.ca [consulté le 18 septembre]
2. The Vie Active 2010 website: http://www.active2010.ca [consulté le 18 septembre]
3. For more details, read our short story Obesity: first a collective problem?
