Overweight teachers told to shed the kilos

Many teachers are at risk of having a heart attack or stroke, with two recent studies showing that four out of five teachers at 35 schools in three provinces were overweight or obese.

Research commissioned by the department of basic education found that 77.6%, or 443 out of 571 teachers from 27 schools in Gauteng and the Western Cape, fell into these two categories.

The research was conducted by former University of Cape Town (UCT) student Lester Joseph for his doctoral thesis.

The findings of another study, a joint project by Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth and the University of Basel in Switzerland, were even more shocking.

Read more in the Sunday Times