Alumni of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, have designed the system with help from an expert team.
While competing for marks is common among school students, they can now also compete for their fitness scores. A group of alumni from the India Institute of Technology-Madras has designed a school fitness report card with the help of an expert team. Like a scorecard, it will record students’ performance on several aspects of health. With fitness assessment a mandate in the comprehensive and continuous evaluation (CCE) method in all schools, this report card will help schools assess students’ fitness with ease.
The Fitness AIR (assessment, improving and reporting) system, as it is called, evaluates students on several parameters like endurance, back strength, flexibility, agility, power, hand-eye co-ordination, speed, etc. These parameters are tested through several scientifically approved physical tests like push-ups, curl-ups, sit and reach, tennis ball tests, standing jump tests, etc.
It also calculates the student’s body mass index and body fat percentage. The students’ report card is divided into two zones, needs improvement and healthy fitness zones. A feedback section also offers suggestions on food intake, diet chart based on the students’ requirements.
According to Prashant Pitti, from the Fitness AIR, also an IITian, the report card has been designed in a manner to meet all the requirements mentioned in the Central Board of Secondary Education’s (CBSE) CCE method. He said, “In 2007, we read a survey by a Delhi-based hospital, which stated that children in urban schools lead a very unhealthy life. Though our nation is very fitness conscious, this startling survey revealed that 24 % of children are not healthy. So we decided to design something like this for the benefit of the Indian families.”
Pitti added, “Our team trains physical training teachers on the evaluation process and also the testing methods. They can then regularly prepare these report cards on the basis of the suggestions given on the card and then also calculate the development in equal intervals.”
There are 35 schools across the country, which have already made the Fitness AIR assessment compulsory. While one of the Bombay Scottish Schools in the city has already made it mandatory, the members of Fitness AIR are hoping to tap several other schools soon.
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