TEHRAN The Department General of Girls' Physical Education was set up two years ago. Paying more attention to physical education, especially the girls' sports activities, Ministry of Education will hold the First International Congress of the Girls' Physical Education from January 30 to February 1, 2001.

Coinciding with the first day of Ten-Day Dawn, the congress will be attended by the Iranian and foreign professors, who will present 193 scientific articles.

Also, a press conference was held yesterday in the Educational and Physical Education Division of the Ministry of Education, during which the Managing Director of the Girls' Physical Education, Mahin Farhadi-Zad and Ebadi, the deputy of education and physical education delivered speech on the goals of the congress.

Considering that the girls comprise half of the students countrywide, the Iranian government founded the Department General of Girls' Physical Education with the aim of promoting the would-be mothers' physical and spiritual powers and making out of them influential individuals for their country in social scenes.

The modern urbanized and industrialized societies are depriving the people of physical activities day by day and therefore physical education seems more crucial these days, especially for the women who in comparison with men face some limitations.

Apart from its practical aspects, sport is a science and demands basic studies. So, we should have some scientific summits. The sports-related policies should help Ministry of Education remove the social predicaments.

Ebadi enumerated the main objectives of the congress as approaching new strategies in management, psychology, physiology, medicine and cultural affairs in physical education.

In the industrialized, developing and developed countries, we are suffering from motionlessness in our workplace, schools, making us different problems in future life, he said, adding that all the aforesaid problems stemmed from our changing life style and cannot be solved but through specialized training that should start in schools.

Then he revealed that the Ministry of Education had been allotted a 20-billion-rial budget, -- Rls.4000 sports expenditure per capita.

There are 180 gyms for the girls around the country.

Iran enjoys a young population with the average age of 19 years old and 4 months. So, it demands energetic activity, and refreshing sports in healthy and suitable places. Unfortunately, depression has spread and Ministry of Education is the most appropriate foundation for preventing the social problems and perversions.