X EFFORTS FALLING SHORT OF PLAN GOALS

The Education and Youth Development Bureau (DSEDJ) has initiated several efforts with local schools to educate students on healthy lifestyles and physical fitness, the bureau said in a response to an inquiry from the Times, but most youngsters in Macau do not comply with international standards for physical activity.

In that response, DSEDJ said the government is “actively guiding students, through various ways and means, to learn and lead a healthy lifestyle and to develop a variety of healthy habits that improve physical and mental well-being, including sports and physical activities that enhance physical fitness.”

Some of these efforts have been implemented in schools’ curriculum, the DSEDJ explained, saying: “DSEDJ has made Physical Education and Health (PE) a compulsory subject for students through the implementation of statutory regulations. These include the ‘Curriculum Framework for Formal Education of Local Education System’ and the ‘Requirements of Basic Academic Attainments for Formal Education of Local Education System’.” DSEDJ added that, according to such guidelines, “at the primary, junior secondary, and senior secondary levels, schools are required to allocate no less than 70 minutes per week (approximately two class periods) for this area of study.”

DSEDJ also said in the same response that, as well as the allocation of at least 70 minutes per week for PE classes, “schools also arrange [other] regular physical activity programs, such as morning exercise and exercise between class periods, as complements, to ensure that primary and secondary students have a total of no less than 150 minutes of physical activity per week, including physical education classes.”

Too little exercise: WHO

A survey on the health behavior of secondary education level students in 2022–23 has revealed that 90% of teenagers do not perform the recommended level of daily physical activity, the Health Bureau (SSM) noted in its “Healthy Macau Plan” for 2030.

According to the results of the survey, most students in Macau do not comply with the World Health Organization (WHO) standards that state that children and adolescents aged between five and 17 years old should have at least 60 minutes per day of moderate-to-high physical, intense activity.

This fact was also highlighted in DSEDJ’s response to the Times; the bureau is now calling on schools to have at least 150 minutes of physical activity per week, including physical education classes. This request does fall very short of WHO’s standards, which note that youngsters between five and 17 years old should have at least 420 minutes per week of moderate-to-high physical exercise.

DSEDJ’s figure amounts to just 35.7% of the minimum standard as determined by WHO.

Although DSEDJ’s response acknowledges that other kinds of “leisure activities” have also been incorporated into the formal curriculum for primary and secondary schools, so that students can enrich their leisure time and further develop their interests, including sports, the bureau could not provide to the Times any concrete information on what exactly this involves, as well as how long is spent on average by students participating in such extra-curricular activities.

Cultivation of healthy living habits part of curricula

In the response to the Times, DSEDJ also noted that, besides the guidelines for physical activities and exercise, there are additional aspects taken into account in the schools’ curricula that are related to healthy living.

“DSEDJ has integrated the cultivation of healthy living habits in students as an important component into the basic academic attainment requirements for school subjects, such as Moral and Civic Education and General Studies, and has published relevant materials to support teachers in carrying out their specific teaching activities.”

The promotion of healthy lifestyles was also said to extend to the food supplied at local schools, with DSEDJ highlighting the existence of a “School Operation Guide” for “the supply of school meals, school food management, and healthy meals.”

Information sessions are also part of the activities organized by DSEDJ. The bureau said that, in collaboration with relevant government departments, these sessions “promote healthy eating among students, enabling teachers and students to have a good understanding of food-group classifications, as well as the principles of designing and providing nutritionally-balanced school lunches.”

Among these activities, DSEDJ noted the “Fruit Fun Day” and the “Milk and Soya Milk [Distribution] Programs,” as well as the setting up of healthy snack kiosks and vending machines in schools. These facilities classify their foods into different categories based on their nutritional quality.

“Furthermore, subsidies have also been provided for schools to hire school health promotion staff to boost health education and related activities in schools, to help students develop healthy eating habits from an early age.”