‘At your age, you must play enough to be drenched in sweat at least 2-3 times a day.’
-PM Narendra Modi (Addressing the kids on ‘Children’s day)
When we hear ‘school’, the picture that comes to mind consists of kids with (huge) bags, teachers, black boards, platforms and benches. A lot of us forget that the schools are incomplete without playgrounds. As we move towards a more and more competitive era, playgrounds are becoming emptier. We all have watched Dangal. Not one of us asked what physical education the girls were getting at their school. Aren’t we supposed to represent our school in sports at that age?
There was a time when the central ministry looking after education was called ‘Ministry of Education’. Today we call it ‘Ministry of Human Resource Development’. That’s because a child’s development includes more than the education he gets at school. Those of us who went to public schools must remember how ‘PT period’ was nothing but Masti-Time. There was no formal syllabus or exam for PT except in tenth standard. PT is included in the curriculum only on paper. Most children of today don’t know what Gymnastics include. A Deepa Karmakar has come but isn’t it too late?
Yes, popular sports like cricket, football, hockey etc. have a structure in cities where every school has a team and competitions happen. But is that enough? More than 90% of the students never enroll themselves for a sport. Those who do, get coached by non qualified ‘PT teachers’.
The reason why physical education and sports are necessary is because what our textbooks don’t teach us, playgrounds can. One who pursues a sport learns to work hard every single day, stay fit, never give up till the last moment, stay dedicated, learn from failures, not to get disheartened by repeated failures and win with grace. He respects the opponent irrespective of past experience. He knows that only that day’s play matters. Old statistics don’t make you win today.
A lot of our states, even the more developed ones like Gujarat face problems children being vulnerable and unhealthy. It is saddening to see little kids wearing spectacles. Television and mobile phones have replaced the outdoor games. It’s time we get our children out of their rooms and make some room for outdoor activities in their daily routine. After all, a sportsman never gets old.
