Indian children play less than adults, according to a survey released on Monday. Children in the eastern region of the country spend maximum 125 minutes i.e. a little over two hours every week in sports. On the other hand, the children of western India play the least for 68 minutes i.e. a little more than an hour.
According to the Puma-Nielsen Sports Survey, Indian children are involved in sporting activities for barely 86 minutes every week, while the World Health Organization (WHO) calls for over 420 minutes of play. Indian adults engage in such activities for 101 minutes every week.
The survey was conducted among 4,280 people in the age group of 6 to 65 years from 16 cities. 6 to 18 years old were kept in the category of children. People in other age groups were treated as adults. Abhishek Ganguly, managing director, Puma India and Southeast Asia, told BLiTZ, “There are two reasons for the low child participation. They are short of time and have to concentrate more on studies. 53% children said that they are not able to participate in sports due to lack of time. At the same time, 46 percent of the children believed that it is more important to focus on studies.
He said, ‘Today people believe that sports lead to distraction from education and if children have to concentrate on studies, they have to stay away from sports. But, this is not correct. The survey revealed that a majority of Indians prefer yoga (37 per cent). After this, 29 percent people like jogging and 28 percent like running. Also, since the pandemic, more than half of adults have added exercise to their daily routine.
