Author(s): Fetiya Kedir and Mekbib Alemu

Abstract:
The objective of the present study was to compare selected health related fitness level of urban and rural background students in secondary schools of Hawassa, Southern Ethiopia. The study was carried out on 400 students of both sexes in which 181 were urban (94 female and 87 male) and 219 were rural (106 females and 113 males). From the selected study participants 215 were from grade 9 and 185 participants were grade 10 students. Health related fitness level of seven Hawassa town secondary school rural and urban back ground students were compared using health related fitness variables of cardiovascular endurance, muscular endurance, muscular strength and flexibility. Descriptive (Mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (Independent sample t-test) were used for data analysis. The results of the study indicated that rural students have significantly higher cardiovascular endurance and muscular strength than urban students (P<0.0001). Whereas the study result showed that in flexibility urban students are better than rural students. In muscular endurance no significant differences was found in rural and urban students (P=0.45). It is concluded that in most health related fitness rural students were found to be higher than those of the urban students. Therefore curriculum developers should be aware of the difference among students and develop diversified physical education curriculum to address the observed gap in fitness level between urban and rural students.

Pages: 266-268  |  716 Views  57 Downloads