Why Fitness Should Be the Fifth Pillar of Education?

posted on Jan 30, 2025

Gurukul The School, recognized among the top 5 CBSE schools in Ghaziabad, are certain that outdoor play and physical activity must have been crucial pillars of your childhood

If you were to take a moment to step down memory lane as a parent, one glaring difference you would observe between your childhood and that of your children is undoubtedly the "level of physical activity involved."

We at Gurukul The School, recognized among the top 10 public school in ghaziabad, are certain that outdoor play and physical activity must have been crucial pillars of your childhood. However, this is something that seems to have been lost in today's times. This has led to the arrival of a period where making "fitness" the fifth pillar of education has become non-negotiable for children's present and future.

Fitness: The Fifth Pillar of Education

We at Gurukul The School fully understand that the field of education has evolved drastically over the years. All this is a result of the changing dynamics of the world coupled with the distinct learning needs of today’s children.

No surprise that the current four pillars of education, i.e., reading, writing, arithmetic, and digital literacy, are contributing to the development of children to a point where they can become successful entrepreneurs, employees, and leaders of tomorrow. However, all this can only be possible if children’s physical and mental wellness needs are taken care of, something that adding “fitness” as the fifth pillar of education can make possible.

Benefits of Adding Fitness as the Fifth Pillar of Education:

1. Close-knit Relationship between Physical Health and Learning:

Gone are the days when education was restricted to mugging up information and passing examinations with flying colors. Education today is about focusing on concept clarity, knowing the "why", and owning skills that hold more power than grades.

Education of this kind demands improved learning capabilities for children, an area where physical health can make positive contributions. We don't have to remind you of the numerous surveys and research studies that have established a close link between physical fitness and learning. The former is believed to help improve children's cognitive function, memory, and concentration, making learning and memory retention a worthwhile experience.

Owing to the mark that physical fitness leaves on a child's academic success, we cannot but overlook the need to make fitness the fifth pillar of education.

2. Guaranteed Mental Peace and Well-Being:

While many of you may only know of the positive impact fitness has on the physical health of children, it is not worth disregarding the mental benefits fitness tags along.

Going by the findings of WHO, it is estimated that globally, one in seven (14%) of 10 to 19 year olds experience mental health conditions, which remain largely unrecognized and untreated. This leads to children going into a cocoon and feeling lost and isolated, which can eventually impact their academic and professional growth.

Here again, fitness comes to the rescue of children by keeping their minds well-regulated. This thereby helps them in dealing with stress, anxiety, and depression. In times when achieving mental wellness has become difficult for children, it only helps to make fitness a part of the bigger learning experience.

3. Ease of Leading a Healthy Life:

We at Gurukul The School often feel worrisome to see the damage sedentary lifestyles have caused to the lives of children.

Be it Type-II diabetes or obesity, today's children are struggling hard to keep from lifestyle diseases, making survival difficult for them. Here again, fitness, as the fifth pillar of education, is believed to work miraculously well in helping children to lead a disease-free life, not just in the present but also in the upcoming years when they age and their immune system gets slightly weak.

It is safe to say that merging fitness into academics shall help improve children's quality of life right from this day. It is more like bidding a permanent goodbye to obesity, diabetes, and heart diseases.

4. Socio-Emotional Development:

The benefits of making fitness the fifth pillar of education are not superficial, but they are expected to create a lasting impact at deeper levels. Not many of you may know, but fitness activities are capable of ensuring socio-emotional development in children by:

• Initiating Cooperation, Leadership, & Empathy
• Building Teamwork
• Boosting Confidence
• Ensuring Interpersonal Growth

Summing Up:

We at Gurukul The School are sure that at some point of time, the thought of the “sedentary epidemic” making your child’s life worse must have crossed your mind. However, you may not have been able to put your finger on a solution that can end this worry of yours.

Today, we bring you your answer, which is nothing but fitness. It is high time that fitness be included as the fifth pillar of education, but until then, it shall help every parent, educational institute, and child to lay emphasis on fitness and physical activity in daily life. Walking in this direction is the need of the hour, something that we at Gurukul The School, as a responsible educational institution that ranks among the school in ghaziabad for nursery admission, completely support.