We get up every day at 6 am to get ready for school. We spend 6 hours sitting in uncomfortable desks. With the exception of two PE lessons a week, the limited exercise we receive is provided from walking to and fro between our classes. PE is not only about playing sport but develops many other factors that most do not think of. By making children participate in sports, especially team sports, physical education also imbibes in them a sense of team spirit.
Children learn how to work as a team member, organize themselves and function together towards attaining a goal. This in turn improves a child’s overall communications skills and the ability to get along with different kinds of people. Physical education inculcates in children the importance of maintaining a healthy body and teaches them the importance of regular fitness activity in daily routine, which in turn keeps them happy and energized. This helps the children to maintain their fitness, develop their muscular strength and increase their stamina.
Research has proved that children who actively participate in sports, be it team sports or dual and individual sports, have high self-confidence, which is very important for the development of a person’s character. Physical education instils the desire to participate, enjoy victory and take defeat positively, developing the overall personality of the character. Adding to that physical education helps one gain knowledge about the overall aspects of physical health. In today’s world, several health problems like obesity, anemia, bulimia, and even diabetes, are rampant amongst teenagers.
Through physical education, teachers can promote the benefits of healthy and nutritious food and discourage them for having junk food by highlighting their ill effects. They can easily promote guidelines for nutrition. Physical education also teaches about the importance of personal hygiene and importance of cleanliness. They guide the students by informing them about the important hygiene practices for maintaining health and well being throughout the life. In addition to this, the physical education classes also cover an important aspect that the children have to deal with at the age of puberty.
Apart from health and knowledge benefits that students get from physical education, they also learn how to unwind and relieve themselves of stress and anxiety. Sports and other physical fitness activities offered in the physical education classes are a welcome break for the students. With all the advantages mentioned above, it is clear, that the quote of Hippocrates “Sport is a preserver of health”, is true. A daily PE lesson would give the students a break from long school days to refocus, revive, and re-establish their learning ability.
Physical Education should be a main class in every student’s schedule because it would make the school function better by making the general population more fit and focused by giving the students a break to allow them to get their concentration back. All the advantages mentioned above, are indicative of implementing a daily PE lesson. For students it is hard to get other sports activities into their schedules, which are packed with classes enduring the whole day. Therefore most students go to fitness centres, to get enough exercise, for these have late opening hours.
Apart from this some students also are members of sports clubs to stay fit, or practice a certain sport. These are ways students get enough exercise but they are time consuming. So by adopting a daily PE lesson, students would have their exercise already combined into their schedules, and it wouldn’t be too hard for them to get enough exercise. In conclusion, physical education plays an indispensable role in promoting health, in instilling positive values and in exercising the mind. Therefore, bringing more PE lessons into the curriculum would certainly benefit the children who are the hope of the nation.