Most students worldwide lack access to minimum physical education: Report

The majority of the world's schoolchildren still do not have access to the minimum required physical education, according to the first-ever Global Status Report on Quality Physical Education.

The report, "Global State of Play", published by UNESCO's education team, revealed that only 58 per cent of the countries have made physical education compulsory for girls and that only 7 per cent of schools worldwide have established equal physical education time for boys and girls.

Two-thirds of secondary school students and more than half of primary school students worldwide are not taught the required minimum weekly physical education.

An expert from the team told PTI that less than one in two primary school teachers has received specialist training in physical education. The team also flagged major differences in funding for physical education between countries -- two-thirds devote less than 2 per cent of their education budget to it while one country in 10 allocates more than 7 per ...