School has just started and new timetables are being communicated to the students.

These past few months we have been bombarded from all relevant quarters with how important healthy eating and exercise is for our children so as to prevent obesity.

With this in mind I thought and expected that a new focus would be given to sports lessons and activities in schools and, therefore, you can imagine my surprise when my 14-year-old son, who attends a Junior Lyceum, came back with a timetable that listed only one 40-minute lesson of physical education a week as opposed to the two lessons he had last year.

Is this the way our children are going to be encouraged to increase their physical activity and, therefore, fight obesity?

It is to be noted that the authorities found time for two lessons of religion per week but not for more lessons of PE.