Deputy Director of the General Department of Sports and Physical Training Trần Đức Phấn. — Photo qdnd.vn

Deputy Director of the General Department of Sports and Physical Training Trần Đức Phấn talks to Quân dội nhân dân (People’s Army) newspaper solutions to improve Vietnamese people’s health, strength and stature.

What has the sports and physical training sector done to implement the Government master plan on developing physical strength and stature of Vietnamese people during the 2011-30 period?

The Prime Minister approved the master plan on developing physical strength and stature of Vietnamese people during the 2011-30 period in April, 2011.

The plan clearly regulates functions and tasks of relevant ministries and agencies as well as sets specific targets for two periods: implementing comprehensive solutions on nutrition and physical training on a trial basis for the 2011-29 period and expanding its results if successfully and completing the whole master plan during the 2021-30 period.

It involves the participation of many ministries, including the General Department of Sports and Physical Training, the ministries of Culture, Sports and Tourism; Health; Education and Training; Agriculture and Rural Development; and Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

So far, sports and physical training activities have been maintained at schools with methods and contents keep being renewed, contributing to fulfilling the target of providing comprehensive education and training for students. During the 2019-20 academic year, the number of students taking part in sports and physical training activities rose from 15.8 per cent to 31 per cent.  At present, 100 per cent of schools are equipped with equipment and tools for students’ sports and physical training activities.

According to a survey carried out by the General Statistic Office and the National Institute of Nutrition in 2020, the average height of Vietnamese men at the age of 18 reached 168.1cm and that of Vietnamese women reaching 156.2cm, higher than the set target of the master plan.

Apart from genetic and nutritional factors, physical training also plays a decisive role in people’s stature development. How has the sports and physical training movement developed over the past year, particularly at schools?

The number of students taking part in sports and physical training activities has increased each year. Many schools established sports clubs, creating many talented athletes for local sports teams.

However, sports and physical training at schools have yet to get proper attention and there lacks a synchronous solution to deal with it while facilities for sports and physical training are limited, particularly in rural and remote and mountainous areas.

Over the past 10 years, sports and physical training activities at schools have yet to be implemented strongly as requested by the master plan. The development of physical strength and stature must start from a young age.

The selection of which sports are suitable with children and how nutrition should be used for children have yet reached a proper agreement. Society still considers physical training as not a primary subject at schools. There is also a lack of teaching staff for physical training with high professional skills at schools.

In fact, we still do not have enough resources to develop sports and physical training at schools.

The sports and physical training sector needs a development strategy to develop Vietnamese people’s stature. We are building a plan on that issue and will soon submit to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

As people and society develop, how will the country achieve its goal of improving people's health and stature?

I think it is time to boost the development of people’s health. It requires a system of sports and physical training infrastructure for people to exercise. Caring for health is caring for the future. Parents need to be healthy to give birth to healthy babies.

Each family should also create a habit of doing more physical training and play sports with their children.

What will the sports and physical training sector do in the future to tackle the challenges?

Developing physical strength and stature of Vietnamese people is the common task of the whole society. In the future, the General Department of Sports and Physical Training will review the sector’s achievements and shortcomings to assess, recommend, amend and supplement related legal documents.

The department will propose the State increases investment and mobilise investment from socialisation activities to develop sports and physical training infrastructure for schools and encourage, create conditions for organisations, individuals and all socio-economic sectors to take part in implementing the master plan to develop Vietnamese people’s physical strength and stature. — VNS