Students getting bigger, less healthy

Korean students are now taller, heavier and physically weaker than they were a decade ago, government figures released yesterday showed.

The Education Ministry said students became bigger because they are eating more and are exercising less. Overall, the students showed less endurance in physical tests because of their gain in weight and in some cases, obesity.

Male students are now taller by an average 2.74 centimeters compared to 10 years ago and female students by 1.96 centimeters, according to the nationwide check-ups last year of 120,000 students above fifth grade.

The average weights of male and female students also edged up by 4.35 kilograms and 1.99 kilograms, respectively.

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Out of 74,715 students who took the physical-strength test, the number scoring highly declined by 5 percentage points to 37 percent or 28,173 students. The test includes sit-ups, push-ups and short and long distance running.

An increasing number of students have poor eyesight and allergies. The number of short-sighted students almost doubled to 40.23 percent or 47,453 last year. In particular, more than half of the junior high and high school students need to wear glasses, the survey said.

"The body constitution has weakened due to excessive watching of television and computer use," said the Education Ministry.

The ministry said it would develop a computer-based program which would assess students` body condition and recommend exercises suitable for them.

(hjjin@heraldm.com)



By Jin Hyun-joo