Students in Chandigarh may not be getting the right lessons when it comes to health. For, the teachers who are supposed to tell them the importance of good health can hardly be called healthy.

A survey conducted by an NGO, Health Aid Medicare, has raised serious questions on the personal health of the teachers.

The results of the study were compiled after various medical camps organised in 17 private schools, in which over 600 teachers participated. According to Dr Anju Gupta, secretary of Health Aid Medicare, the study helped them bring forth the dismal state of fitness among schoolteachers.

She said the schools should arrange for regular health screenings, stress management training, conflict resolution training, lectures on the importance of physical fitness and healthy eating and counselling for personal problems for the staff.

According to the study, most common medical problems faced by the teachers are joint pain and hypertension. While 58 per cent teachers were found to be suffering from joint pain, 46 per cent had hypertension, which is one of the major causes of heart ailments.

A study by the community medicine department of the PGI, too, had revealed that almost 45 per cent of the population of Chandigarh, above 30 years of age, suffered from hypertension.

The NGO also found 38 per cent teachers suffering from diabetes. The figure is disturbing if compared to the PGI’s study which found only 6 per cent in the age group of 35 to 54 years to be diabetic. Stress and unhealthy lifestyle were said to be the significant contributors to the emergence of these diseases.