Aimee Walker
Primary school kids will reportedly be ‘weighed in class’ due to child obesity fears.
According to the Independent, measurements will begin in September.
Tam Fry, from the National Obesity Forum, said: “We expect the figures will have gone up and we expect the results, when we get them, to be a real jolt to Boris Johnson.
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“We have got to do something very serious about this problem. We cannot wait for the end of Covid. I am absolutely delighted that the National Child Measurement Programme is coming back.”
He then stressed that although experts can’t specifically say how much weight each student has put on, it’s likely to be a lot, especially as UK child obesity rates are already alarmingly high.
It’s believed that in England, at least one in every three kids leaving high school is overweight, while one in five is classed as obese.
Mr Fry believes that ministers should be ordering all schools to have their students weighed each year.
Currently, kids are meant to be weighed just twice during their years at primary school.
Former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, Russel Viner, said: “There are a number of reasons to be concerned that the pandemic has increased obesity across the population – including in children.
“[But] we have no data on what the pandemic has done to obesity in children and the NCMP is essential for this.”
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