Should Sports be Part of Educational Curriculum in India?

In-keeping afloat the ‘healthy India’ propaganda, a bench of the Supreme Court of India has issued a notice to the Centre, National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), University Grants Commission (UGC) & the Sports Authority of India (SAI) pursuing their opinion on whether sports should be a mandatory part of the academic curriculum from primary to higher education institutes in India or not? It inquired if the right to sports should be declared as part of fundamental rights under Right to Education.

The order was passed basis a petition filed by Kanishka Pandey, a law student, who, through his advocate Rajeev Dubey approached the Apex Court seeking intervention from the Court to direct governments to implement a sports culture in all educational institutes.

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Following the petition, a Supreme Court bench comprising of Justices L. Nageswara Rao and S.A Bobde have issues notices to SAI, NCERT & UGC.

In his petition, Kanishka contended that instilling a culture of sports to the young generation will promote friendship, comity & patience amongst students, which will prevent them from getting lured into social evils so prominent in India today.

Kanishka also asserted that a national level sports person should be made part of the syllabus committee of all school boards. He also added that biographies of eminent sports personalities should be a part of the curriculum.

The aim is not only to target schools and colleges; Kanishka insisted that even Sanskrit Vidyalayas and Madrassas should have sports as a mandatory curriculum. He further added that besides being taught as a full time subject, marks from sports should be attributed to a child’s academic performance report, which should have weightage while taking admission to higher educational institutes or courses.

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Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has also emphasized enough on Mission Fit India – a mission to take India on a path of fitness and wellness and has promoted the Yoga way of life. Health minister JP Nadda also launched a campaign called HealthifyIndia, which aimed to help a million Indians to adopt better practices for a better life.

So, if the NCERT, UGC & SAI give their approval for this motion, it will be interesting to see how an otherwise laid back India will take this move.