Schools in West Bengal to introduce Obesity-Prevention courses

The West Bengal Education Department has decided to introduce lessons in the school curriculum on Obesity-prevention for raising awareness on the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle among the students.

The course will start at the primary education level for which disbursal of funds has already begun. Apart from imparting theoretical knowledge, the curriculum would also highlight the practical aspect of tackling obesity like the necessity of physical activity, regular measurement of certain parameters and eating healthy food. Teachers will also be taught to persuade students to start practicing yoga for preventing obesity.

A senior official said, "The lessons will explain the necessity of regularly monitoring certain parameters like blood pressure, blood sugar, and body weight. The first two factors have an intimate relation with obesity. All these will be explained in the curriculum to raise the awareness level of the students, which will eventually help their parents know about the basic things about obesity."

"Measurement of blood pressure, blood sugar and body weight should be regularly done among school students. The instruments for measuring these parameters will be bought by the schools from funds provided by the department, mainly meant for this purpose," he further stated.