OBESITY RATE AMONG STUDENTS IN SCHOOLS

OBESITY RATE AMONG STUDENTS IN SCHOOLS: 6.

Mrs Josephine Teo asked the Minister for Education (a) what is the obesity rate among students in (i) primary schools (ii) secondary schools and (iii) post-secondary institutions; and (b) whether the obesity rate had increased over the past decade.

Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M (for the Minister for Education): Mr Speaker, Sir, in 2009, the obesity rate, defined as the proportion of students whose weight is more than 20% above the average for their height, was 10% for primary schools, 10% for secondary schools, and ranged from 6% in JCs to 23% at the ITE. We, however, do not have data on obesity for the polytechnics.

Obesity rates among school students have remained relatively stable in the past decade. The obesity rate among ITE students rose from 18% in 2005 to 23% in 2009. Based on Weight-for-Height norms, the national obesity rate of our students in primary schools, secondary schools and JCs for the past decade has been stable around 9.7%. The data is available for the Members.

Mrs Josephine Teo (Bishan-Toa Payoh): Mr Speaker, I have three supplementary questions for the Minister of State.

I am glad to note that the rate of obesity has not increased, but it has remained stubbornly around the 10% range. My first question is: what steps will the MOE take to reduce the rate of obesity among the students? My second supplementary question is to ask how effective are the programmes, such as the Healthy Eating in Schools programmes and the Holistic Health Framework (HHF) in combating obesity among school children. The third question is whether there are sufficient health and nutrition experts in the schools to help bring down the rate of obesity.

Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M: Managing the obesity rate in our population of students is definitely one of the focus of schools. In fact, I chair the Healthy Youth Committee with representatives from HDB, MOH, IMH, MCYS, MOE, SSC and various practitioners of the sports and health industry. The reason we are incorporating a lot of people is basically as the Member has mentioned just now – the Holistic Health Framework (HHF) does not just address the issue of obesity. We have to expand the scope of concern of our students around social health and mental health as a more encompassing approach to impact the students' physical well-being. That is why IMH is on board.

To answer the question on whether we should reduce the rate, it is something that we continue to do. But, it is not always an easy thing when students come from primary school, a little more obese than they should be. And after we have done a lot of work on them, parents at home overindulge in them and they have less physical activities during the school holidays. We find that after the school holidays, many students actually gained weight. So we ask Members who have children, to help schools and teachers in reducing the obesity rate.

On the second question of whether Healthy Eating and HHF have taken root: I have visited many schools and they have moved away from over focusing on obesity or underweight, for that matter, and looking at the broad spectrum of health issues that students should be educated in. This includes mental health. The children should know that they should really get help if they feel depressed and that it is normal to get help when they feel depressed. While this HHF is still new, I am happy to note that all schools that I have visited have already incorporated HHF – Holistic Health Framework – into their Health Education framework in place of the old TAF programmes that they had previously.

On the third question of whether there are enough health and nutritionists to help schools: we use the services of Health Promotion Board (HPB) as well as NGOs like the National Nutritionist Dietetics Society to help schools address specific issues around health. Sometimes, it could be around nutrition, sometimes it could be around healthy eating, including for those who are underweight, to make sure that they also have a varied diet and not just look at trying to maintain a slim look.

Mrs Josephine Teo: I would still like to ask the question: is the MOE satisfied that this is the rate of obesity that we can live with or does MOE have a specific target to want to work towards and to put in the resources to try and bring down the rate of obesity? The reason I asked is because while all the rates have been quite stable, they are still quite high and I think we should not be satisfied with this current rate of obesity in our school children, given that obesity can lead to a lifetime of issues.

Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M: The new CHERISH framework has shifted from only looking at obesity rate towards looking at progress because reducing obesity is not an overnight thing. We can give them pills, we can inject them and maybe they will lose weight. But I think that is not what we want them to do. What we want to do is to have a healthy disposition towards life and, for some students, it may take a lifetime. Maybe it would take them as long as they are in school and maybe they would only start slimming down after they have left school. So for that matter, what we want to ensure is that students internalise why they have to be healthy so that even if they are obese, they do undertake rigorous exercises so that they can fall within the healthy weight and height norms. To target a particular obesity rate, it must be based on some science or evidence that this is the obesity rate that we should look for. For now, while we do not have a particular target rate, we are happy that the obesity rate has been stable and is not increasing.

Dr Lam Pin Min (Ang Mo Kio): I would like to ask the Minister of State this: although the obesity rate is below 10% and does not seem to be too alarming, are there any comparisons with other countries or countries around our region? The second supplementary question is: we know that the availability of junk food contributes to obesity in schools. Does MOE have any guidelines as to what kind of food can be sold at the school canteens and how do we monitor that?

Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M: Mr Speaker, for the first question on whether there are any comparisons with other countries: I do not have the figures but we do compare. I can say that at our biennial Education for Health Conference which is attended, not only by our school practitioners, but also by practitioners around the world, I get only accolades from them for the way that we have managed health issues in our schools and for maintaining a stable obesity rate among our students. But if the Member wants to have more specific figures, perhaps he can file a parliamentary question for it.

Secondly, whether there are guidelines for our schools to provide healthy food, healthy nutrition. Apart from educating them during curriculum hours, we work with HPB to educate the canteen operators to provide healthy nutritional food that would form a balanced diet. Those that have attained a particular standard set by HPB get the title "A Model Tuckshop".

Mdm Halimah Yacob: I would like to ask the Minister of State whether he would consider introducing these obesity prevention programmes at the pre-primary level because, in my view, by the primary school level, habits are already formed, whether exercise or lack of exercise or food habits. So roll out the programmes at the pre-primary level in collaboration, of course, with the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports. I think there would then be a lot more targeted focus and that is more preventive in nature.

Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M: We must be mindful not to move everything we cannot achieve in primary schools to pre-schools. [ Laughter ]. We are also mindful of the need for preventive care and that we can also provide guidance for practitioners in our pre-schools as well as to their parents. The Member is right: parents tend to overindulge in their children's food habits and therefore it is good and timely that we work with the pre-schools to provide the information as early as possible, given also that most of our students attend pre-schools.

2.06 pm

Mr Speaker: Order. End of Question Time.