How fitness was measured

The health of physical education teachers in state schools was judged in part by measuring their body mass index (BMI).

BMI estimates an individual's total body fat through a ratio of his weight to his height squared.

A healthy BMI for an adult is 20 to 25. Adults with body mass between 26 and 30 are overweight and those above 30 are categorised as obese.

Officials expect educators who are overweight to set a goal of reducing by four points on the BMI scale every year.

For example, a person who was 162cm tall and weighed 95kg would have a BMI of 36.2. If that person lost 11kg in a year, their BMI would drop to 32.

"We know they cannot lose it all at once," said Salam Kareem, the PE programmes coordinator at the ministry. "That would be unhealthy."

* Afshan Ahmed