Height and weight of students

NAME AND CONSTITUENCY OF MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT

Mr Darryl David, Ang Mo Kio GRC

QUESTION

To ask the Minister for Education (a) whether there is a standard protocol determining how the height and weight of children are regularly monitored in schools; (b) if so, how is this exercise conducted; and (c) how is the information presented to the children and their parents.

RESPONSE

1. Schools measure the height and weight of all students twice annually to monitor their physical development in accordance to a Body Mass Index (BMI)-for-age chart¹. Following the measurements, students outside the healthy range for physical growth are supported by the school to focus on behavioural modifications for gradual improvement in BMI. Parents are informed to support their children to practise healthy habits at home. Severely overweight and severely underweight students² are referred to the Health Promotion Board's Student Health Centre (SHC) for medical assessment and lifestyle counselling.

2. All students are taught good eating habits and regular participation in physical activities during Physical Education (PE) lessons to encourage active and healthy living. Schools can reflect students' physical development status as part of the annual Physical Fitness Test report or twice a year in the Holistic Development Profile report to communicate to students and parents.

Footnotes

1. BMI-for-age chart was developed from a study on school children in Singapore (2002) as the reference population.

2. Refers to students with BMI-for-age ≥ 95th percentile and students with BMI-for-age < 3rd percentile respectively.