Many school children in Ireland may not be receiving enough hours of physical education (PE).

Just ten per cent of post-primary school pupils are currently taking part in 120 minutes of PE every week, despite rising levels of obesity causing alarm in the country, the Journal reports.

This two-hour minimum is recommended by the Department of Education and Skills. However, the department has proposed reducing the status of the subject to a short course, meaning it would have a time allocation of just 100 hours across two or three years.

Fergal Lyons, president of the Physical Education Association of Ireland - which was founded in 1968 and aims to improve performance and standards in PE by encouraging professional growth - noted the current Junior Certificate Curriculum sees schools providing around 150 hours of PE across three-year periods.

"It baffles as to how the government can cut this time allocation for PE by potentially one third in the new framework," he added.

Written by Donal Walsh

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