- Physical education is one of the subjects in the Ghanaian educational curriculum. In other parts of the world, it is termed as Gym Class. Some students dread this class while others love it because they can exercise their muscles after for example, a boring history period. Of course, it must be noted that the naughty ones skip the class altogether.
Physical education is important but some physical education teachers make it a ‘major class’ hence, stressing students out and making them lose interest in the subject. In gym class, students engage in activities such as rope climbing, cartwheel, jumping ,hurdling and many others. These activities may sound exciting for those who would love to be in the Olympics but some students find it stressful in some instances and fun at other times.
From my observation, students like PE because it makes them active and attentive for the rest of the day. In the morning, everyone has breakfast and even though breakfast energizes them, it could make students sleepy and lazy in class. Therefore, when they have PE after the first period of a different class, they feel more active and ready for the rest of the day’s activities.
Another important benefit of PE is that it helps to boost class score commonly known as the Average Class Score. Since PE does not require learning and a lot of thinking like other subjects, students perform better in it, hence it balances their average score in their report. Aside boosting scores, it also helps in self defense. It is not only karate that teaches people self defense but also physical education .They learn techniques that help them to defend themselves against predators which is very important because one does not know when they would be attacked. These kind of techniques can not be learnt out of the blue but need training and expertise.
Generally, I believe that physical education must be taught in universities too and not only basic, Junior and Senior High Schools. This is because for each level of our lives, we need a different approach to things. Physical education is essential so it must be taken seriously by students because you never know when you will need the skills that the subject exposes you to.
