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Slew of recommendations by the KSSC

Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The third Kerala State Sports Commission, which submitted its interim report here on Monday, has recommended the integration of physical education and sports into the educational curriculum in a phased manner.

The interim report was handed over to the Sports Minister, M. Vijayakumar and the Education Minister, M.A. Baby by the chairman of the Commission, A.K. Pandya, at a function arranged by the Public Relations Chamber in the Secretariat.

The Commission while lauding the Government for having taken a policy decision to include Physical Education and Sports into the curriculum from the next academic year has also suggested that a pass grade in these subjects should be made compulsory for promotion to a higher class from 2015-16.

Obvious reasons

“Such a suggestion has been made due to obvious reasons, as proper evaluation of the progress made by a child, in the opinion of the Commission, should be made only after the total integration of the subject into the curriculum,” Mr. Pandya said.

The subject should be introduced initially from Classes I to VII in 2009-10, Classes VIII and XI in 2010-11 and Classes X, XI and XII, individually through the subsequent three years. The process, accordingly, will be completed in 2014-15.

The other major recommendations made by the Commission include the setting up of a Sports School each in all the 14 revenue districts in the State, the conversion of the G.V. Raja Sports School, Thiruvananthapuram, and Sports Division, Kannur, into Elite Training Centres for School Children, the appointment of physical education teachers in all the schools across the State, the provision of inclusion of a new subject (Sports Sciences) into the Humanities stream at Higher Secondary level, the revision of sports fees for the constitution of a Sports Development Fund and the establishment of a Sports University and a Sports Research Institute in the State.

The 41-page report which has more focus on sports and games activity at the school level has also proposed the simultaneous inclusion of a training module for competitive sports so as to ensure that proper and scientific training is provided to school children in the State.

Ideal preparation

This, the report says, would also help children to prepare themselves for participation in the new multi-country events like the Asian Youth Games, the Commonwealth Youth Games and the Summer Youth Olympics, which will be only open to those in the age-group of 15 to 18 years.

The recommendation of converting the G.V. Raja Sports School and the Sports Division, Kannur, into Elite Training Centres has been made in keeping this viewpoint in mind. The report says that the Government need not go in for building a new complex for the proposed Sports School in each district but could instead choose to identify a Government school with sufficient space for the required infrastructure and thus avoid wasteful expenditure.

In the case of private-aided schools with sufficient sports facilities, the attempt should be to introduce a well-defined day-boarding system.

Besides the chairman, the function was also attended by Commission members, T.P. Dasan (president, Kerala State Sports Council), Olympian Suresh Babu and Shiny Wilson, Dr. G. Kishore (Director, Sports and Youth Affairs) and physical education expert, T.I. Manoj.

All-out efforts

Receiving the report, the Sports Minister said the Government will be taking all-out efforts to implement the various recommendations made by the Commission.

“Most of the recommendations are far sighted and should help bring further glory to Kerala in the years to come,” Mr. Vijayakumar said.

The Education Minister said that having gone through the summary of recommendations it was evident that the Commission and the Government were working on a same wavelength.

“A few of them have considerable financial implications but the Government will not found wanting in implementing them after discussions with the Finance Department and other agencies concerned,” Mr. Baby remarked.

The Commission is likely to submit its final report either by the end of the next month or early May.

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