IELTS Essay: Schools don’t give enough importance to health education

Essay prompt

Schools don’t do enough to teach students about their health. Do you agree or disagree with this statement?

Sample response

Many students now subsist on junk food. Over the last few years, there has been a steady increase in the number of students battling lifestyle diseases like obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure. Biology textbooks do have lessons that teach students about health. But I really don’t think that schools are doing much to encourage students to lead a healthy lifestyle.

In many schools, junk food is served in the canteen. Children love them and eat them. Schools that are truly interested in developing good eating habits in children should banish these junk items from their canteen. There is no point in teaching the importance of eating well in the classroom and serving unhealthy food items in the canteen.

Teachers, too, often fail to set a good example. In many schools in Mumbai they insist that children only bring home-cooked food in their lunch box. However, this rule is not always enforced. Teachers don’t even bother to check what students have brought in their lunch box. Parents, too, should be blamed for this. They are busy and don’t have the time or the willingness to prepare proper meals. So, they send store-bought packaged items in the lunch box despite knowing that these foods contain high levels of sodium, preservatives and additives.

Physical education is also largely neglected. Many schools are only interesting in increasing the academic performance of their students. Even if there are dedicated hours for physical training, often they are not utilized properly. Also, schools put too much emphasis on homework. Children don’t get time to play even after they reach home because they have to complete their homework.

To conclude, I don’t think that schools are doing enough to make students health conscious. Yes, most schools have dedicated a few hours for physical training, but I don’t believe that they are being utilized properly. If schools were giving due importance to health education, obesity and other lifestyle diseases would not be so rampant among young children.

Manjusha Nambiar

Hi, I'm Manjusha. This is my blog where I give IELTS preparation tips.

Leave a Reply