More than 21% of students in the country are overweight or obese, said Mehrzad Hamidi, physical education and health deputy at the Education Ministry. “Obesity at young age will increase vulnerability to non-communicable diseases in particular diabetes and cardiovascular diseases,” ILNA quoted him as saying. The ministry has prioritized the issue of obesity in students, and has drawn multiple programs to reduce the problem, including intra and inter school sport competitions, increasing physical education hours in weekly curriculums, and eliminating junk food from school cafeterias.
