Most RI kids not healthy

Most RI kids not healthy

JAKARTA (JP): Only 1.8 percent of Indonesia's 29 million
elementary school children, between the ages of six and nine
years, are physically healthy, a recent survey shows.

The figure slightly rose to 6.8 percent among children of
between nine and 12 years old.

Sri Sudono Sumarto, a senior official of the Ministry of
Education and Culture, who presented the findings, said on
Thursday that lack of sports facilities in elementary schools and
lack of public concern for sports activities for school children
were behind the health problem.

Sri Sudono Sumarto, a senior official of the Ministry of
Education and Culture, who presented the findings, on Thursday
highlighted lack of sports facilities in elementary schools and
lack of public concern for sports activities for school children
as the main cause of the health problem.

The official failed to elaborate the indicators used to
measure the children's health standards.

Sudono said that in a bid to improve the physical fitness of
children, his ministry will promote a gymnastic exercise package
throughout the country's 125,000 elementary schools.

A well-known gymnastic instructor, Maya Tamara, helped the
ministry develop the exercises suitable for the elementary-level
school children.

A ministerial decree has been issued to justify the nation-
wide program, Sudono said. The decree also suggests every
elementary school build adequate sports facilities.

The ministry has formerly launched three packages of morning
exercises, called the A, B and C Series, but Sudono said they
fall short of characteristic moves for the children.

Djauzak Achmad, the ministry's director in charge of
elementary-level education, said that sports should be viewed as
a need, not as a symbol of prestige, and should be promoted among
families.

He said that the recent findings answered the question why
Indonesians carried poor records in world-level sports. (arf)