Students have begun fitness tests. In the background, not only the search for talents

The tests will be conducted once a year by PE teachers as part of mandatory physical education classes. The results of the tests will be entered into the "Sports Talents" records. Importantly, the results of the tests conducted will not affect a student's grade in physical education.

With the data collected, it will be possible to effectively model public policies to combat overweight and obesity, postural defects and cardiovascular diseases increasingly present among children and adolescents. Recall, a report by the Supreme Chamber of Control shows that 14.5 percent of Polish children are overweight, 7.2 percent are obese. Particularly worrying is that the prevalence of obesity in children in the first years of elementary school is even higher than the averaged figures given above. In 2016, it exceeded 30 percent in this group, and by 2021 it was already 35 percent of eight-year-old children.

- We will study students' basic skills, such as strength, speed and maneuverability. This will allow us to create an informed state policy that affects how efficient Polish society is. The tests conducted in schools are a systemic measure, written into the core curriculum. The tests have been selected so that they are safe for children and can be performed in any conditions. I appeal to parents, teachers - help us examine the condition of children and young people so that we can effectively, as a state, help them to be fit people," said Minister of Sport and Tourism Slawomir Nitras during a joint conference with Education Minister Barbara Nowacka.

- If young people are to be healthy, resilient and strong, they must be provided with good physical activities tailored to their needs, abilities and age. A healthy child participating in sports activities is a child who learns much better. Much better at absorbing knowledge and confident. Let's conduct tests and see where Polish children are and how we can support them in their motor development," Minister Nowacka said.

The measures are viewed positively by health care experts. Among others, Dr. Malgorzata Galazka-Sobotka, director of the Institute of Healthcare Management at Lazarski University, shared her opinion on the initiative in a social media post.

"Physical fitness of children and adolescents is the key to a lifetime of health. Recent data is frightening: 88 percent of children can't tumble forward , 74 percent can't somersault, 50 percent can't jump over a skipping rope . We need such initiatives," she wrote on the X portal.