Head boy, school organize 5km walk, free medical checkup

The head boy of The Regent Primary School, Abuja, has organized a 5km health walk and free medical checks for pupils, parents and staff of the school and other residents of Abuja. Activities during the outreach were a walk, aerobic exercises, zumba dance and medical checks for blood pressure, Body Mass Index BMI), blood sugar […]

The head boy of The Regent Primary School, Abuja, has organized a 5km health walk and free medical checks for pupils, parents and staff of the school and other residents of Abuja.

Activities during the outreach were a walk, aerobic exercises, zumba dance and medical checks for blood pressure, Body Mass Index BMI), blood sugar level and abdominal fat.

Speaking during the exercise, David Danga, the head boy, said he was inspired to propose the initiative to his school because he had observed that most people don’t exercise thereby predisposing themselves to diseases.

He said the initiative included getting people to walk, exercise and keep fit, adding that he placed the proposal to the headmaster who together with the management of the school gave him approval, and support.

“Exercise has a lot of benefits; it builds the immune system, your heart pumps blood very easily, your lungs function well, and after walking, you burn down a lot of calories among many other benefits,” he said.

He advised other schools to emulate the idea so that their pupils and students could also enjoy good health.

Mother of the head boy, Mrs Atinuke Danga, advised parents to encourage their children to come out with very good initiatives that would impact positively on the society.

She added that a lot of children have good ideas and just needed encouragement to implement them.

“Don’t ignore or discard them when they want to suggest something, stay by them and give them all the support,” she said.

While describing David as someone who loves academics, research, and sporting activities, she said the walk and aerobic exercises he organized were good forms of exercise that help people stay in good health.

Headmaster of The Regent Primary School, Kenneth Sugden, said the purpose of the exercise was to encourage people to lead a more healthy life because “the average age of death in the country is very young and that can be blamed to lack of exercise and unhealthy diet.”

“So we are trying to promote exercise, healthy eating and take a walk rather than a car everywhere we go. Around 200 people participated in the walk. We walked around the streets of Abuja,” he said.

A parent who participated in the walk, Stella Idimogu Okaga, recommended that the exercises should continue every term, saying it helped parents, pupils and teachers to unwind.