The Ministers of Education and Sports have announced the launch of a “French 30-minute sports team”. A device intended to fight against the increase in sedentary lifestyle and obesity among college students worn by more than 150 sports personalities.
The government wants to counter sedentary lifestyle among young people. “It is essential to reverse the curve”, warns the Minister of Education Pap Ndiaye in an interview given with the Minister of Sports Amélie Oudéa-Castéra to the newspaper The Parisian and published on Monday. Their statements come as a new study points to the increase in the number of cases of diabetes (+2% each year) and the decline in the physical capacity of adolescents, as well as an increase in obesity in children (+ 2% as well).
“The phenomena of a sedentary lifestyle, of increased obesity in children, are reversible”, however noted Pap Ndiaye, on the basis of the new conclusions brought by the study.
The government appeals to professional athletes
The two ministers announced on this occasion the creation ofa “30-minute French team”, in reference to the daily objective of half an hour of sport at school carried by Emmanuel Macron for several years. This government system mobilizes “more than 150” sports personalities according to Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, including cyclist Audrey Cordon-Ragot, handball player Jérôme Fernandez, athlete Sasha Zhoya, breakdancer Carlota Dudek and disabled tennis player Pauline Deroulede.
These athletes will be required to go to schools to talk with the students about “their discipline and their journey” during two-hour sessions during which they “will participate in a session of physical activity with them”, details Amélie Oudéa. -Castera.
Increased sport time in schools
This new announcement echoes the measures taken by the government to strengthen sports time at school, with in particular the generalization of 30 minutes of sport per day in primary schools since the start of the school year in September 2022 after two years of experimentation. A decision however criticized by the teachers’ unions who had denounced a lack of preparation and taking into account the realities on the ground. At the same time, 173 colleges have been experimenting with two hours of additional sports since November, Pap Ndiaye also recalled during the interview.
“To meet the challenge of a sedentary lifestyle, we need the whole continuum between physical education, school sport, club sport and now daily physical activity times,” says Amélie Oudéa-Castéra.
According to a study published in 2020 by the National Health Security Agency (Anses), two thirds of 11-17 year olds are, due to an unhealthy lifestyle, “at a high level of risk, which can translate by overweight, obesity, eating disorders or even an altered quality of sleep and life”.
