MORE schools are meeting Scottish Government targets to increase the amount of time pupils spend exercising.
By 2014, SNP ministers want every primary pupil to receive at least two hours per week of physical education, while secondary schools are expected to provide two periods of PE per week – some 100 minutes.
Data from the Scottish Government's Healthy Living survey show 84% of primary schools met the target in 2012 – up from just 3% in 2004/05.
More than 90% of secondary schools are now providing two periods of PE, compared with 46% in 2004/05.
Four local authorities met the targets in all of their schools – East Ayrshire, East Renfrewshire, South Ayrshire and West Dunbartonshire – while Glasgow succeeded in 99% of its schools.
Shona Robison, the sport minister, said the upturn would provide a boost to pupils' health, educational attainment and life chances.
"PE in school is a crucial long- term investment, as habits formed in childhood and adolescence continue throughout adulthood, and pupils who take part in PE can better understand the benefits of a healthy, active lifestyle," she said.
"While we still have some way to go, these statistics demonstrate good progress and we are investing nearly £6 million over the next two years to support local authorities with this."
Stewart Harris, chief executive of national sporting body sportscotland, described the figures as encouraging.
"An important component of the world-class sporting infrastructure we are developing in Scotland is the provision of excellent facilities alongside quality teaching and coaching for young people of all ages and abilities," he said.
"In doing so, we are providing the opportunities for Scotland's primary and secondary pupils to adopt healthy lifestyles that they continue into adulthood."
However, Liam McArthur, education spokesman for the Scottish Liberal Democrats, attacked the Government for failing to meet the targets it set itself in 2007.
"It's odd that ministers have found these figures a cause for celebration as they highlight the fact the SNP still hasn't delivered its 2007 manifesto pledge," he said.
Other figures released yesterday by the Government show the take-up of schools meals is continuing to improve after a worrying drop-off after healthier menus were introduced.
Successive Scottish Governments have tried to improve the quality of school meals, but thousands of pupils voted with their feet by switching to packed lunches or eating from take-aways instead.
In 2007, 45% of secondary pupils took school meals, but by 2009 the figure had dropped to 39%. The latest figures show nearly 42% of secondary pupils are now taking school meals.
Other figures highlight the educational inequalities that continue to be faced by children who are in care.
The percentage of looked-after children who left school during 2010/11 and went on to further study, training or who got a job was just 55%, compared with 87% of all school-leavers.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article