Children to spend less time on electronic devices, focus on phys ed, sports- Ali

Last Updated on Sunday, 16 March 2025, 13:35 by Writer

President Irfaan Ali on Saturday announced that efforts were underway to get children to spend less time on their mobile phones and electronic devices and instead engage in more sports and physical activity to promote a healthier lifestyle.

“Even if we have to put free WiFi in the park to get the children out of their homes into an environment into which they can do can physical activity and still know they can be on their device,” he said. Dr Ali added that he has asked the Ministry of Education to place great emphasis on physical education in schools and reduce the time spent on devices to prevent a “massive problem” in the future. “We have to rebuild physical education and sport in our school system to get our children away from those devices,” he said.

The President said the estimated 70,000 eye tests on school-aged children show that many of them need spectacles at a “young age” because of the many hours being spent on devices.

He was addressing the launch of a GY$10,000 universal healthcare voucher for Guyanese to access critical medical tests as part of the collection of baseline health data. Recipients can test for diabetes, anemia, coronary heart disease, kidney disease, prostate cancer, hyperlipidemia, and uncontrolled cholesterol levels, among others, at 49 accredited public or private health institutions.

Dr Ali said public policy would seek to encourage walking and riding to work in Georgetown. He again alluded to plans, through the United Kingdom’s King’s Foundation, to establish walking and cycling rings in Georgetown.

The President said children’s well-being was affected by the extensive time they were spending on devices indoors. “Our children have access to what we don’t have access to but we are allowing that access to destroy them because they are sitting in their homes, and as time progresses, they will be sitting in their AC rooms with a device, eating, drinking sugar and not going out and have physical activities,” he said.