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Reform Health and Physical Education

By:

Chan Yit Fei

Affiliations:

Agora Society Malaysia

Policy Code:

3f Education

Problem Statement:

1. Health education has not been effective at inculcating students with the right attitudes towards health. According to the NHMS 2017, 1 in 25 secondary school students had used drugs, 3.4% were still using drugs. 10% of students smoked, 10% of them drank alcohol, 6% reported drunkenness. 7.3% had had sex but only 12% among them used condom. Most of them don’t. Poor health attitude may contribute to increase in morbidity in the society, exposing it to a higher risk during outbreaks of diseases.
2. The lack of a standard test that can be used to assess the level of physical fitness and basic motor skills of students.
3. Unequal dissemination of information and knowledge on health topics and issues

Value(s) and Belief(s):

1. Promote quality and effectiveness of health education in schools that foster attitude, values, and beliefs that support positive health behaviours, which are the essential goals stated in our National Education Philosophy. Promote effective physical education that raise student fitness.
2. A successful health education is particularly important to underprivileged students, as it helps empower them and their family to improve their physical, mental, emotional and social health by increasing their knowledge, skills and influencing their attitudes about caring for their well-being, and also to bring home important information.

Proposal of Solution:

1. MoE, MoH and MoY to collaboratively to set up a health monitoring & support system that:
a. Assign health officer to:
i. oversees health programmes and health reports (obesity/overweight, malnutrition, stunting/wasting, abuse of drugs, unsafe sex) from schools.
ii. Assist schools to deliver effective health education, including physical education, with appropriate tests (e.g. comprehensive PE tests) to assess the actual impact of these education/programmes on student’s health and fitness.
iii. Take Immediate action on schools which cancel health education or physical education on their own discretion.
iv. Assist schools in running evidence-based health awareness programmes, informed by the annual reports and other health reports published by the MoE.
v. Targeted programmes for the underprivileged students with health issues.
2. Train and equip school teachers with instructional strategies and revamp the curriculum of health education to provide learning experiences that motivate students to critically examine personal perspectives, thoughtfully consider new arguments that support health-promoting attitudes and values, and generate positive perceptions about protective behaviors and negative perceptions about risk behaviors.
3. Design and administer standard fitness test to assess student’s fitness objectively.

Translation

Isu dan Polisi Semasa:

Nilai-nilai dan Kepercayaan:

Penyelesaian:

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