Singaporean students less prone to obesity than region's peers

SINGAPORE - The fact that Singapore students are less than half as likely to be overweight than their South-east Asian peers can be attributed to increased physical education curriculum time, said Senior Parliament Secretary for the Ministry of Education (MOE) and Ministry of Manpower Mr Hawazi Daipi.

Singapore's childhood overwiehgt percentage in 2010 was 10.9 per cent, compared to the region's 23 per cent  This figure was revealed at the third Educating For Health (EFH) conference that kicked off on Thursday at Republic Polytechnic.

Mr Hawazi also said that MOE will also focus it efforts to promote mental wellness at an early age, to ensure chidren can cope with going through different life stages.

This year's conference theme is 'Mind Your Health'. Held every two years, the two-day conference started as an initiative by the Healthy Youth Committee under MOE.