60 minutes of exercise may soon be must for school kids

EDUCATIONAL TERMS Proposals include creating model schools to impart value education

NEWDELHI: School students might have to undertake mandatory physical activities for an hour every day if the Union human resource development ministry accepts the recommendation of a group comprising government officials and activists.

Inclusion of 60-minute mandatory physical activities and value education in schools were among the recommendations put forth during a workshop organised by the HRD ministry on November 6-7.

The two-day ‘Chintan Shivir’ witnessed separate groups comprising civil society activists and officials of the state governments and Centre hold deliberations on themes of digital education, life skill education, experimental learning, physical education and value education.

Creation of a network of model schools that could impart value education was also proposed during the workshop.

“Physical education should be an integral part of overall education and it has been proposed that it should be viewed as a core part of school education just like academics.

One hour of physical activity everyday for all age-groups has been recommended by the group,” said a senior ministry official. The ministry is reviewing the recommendations and will decide the road map for their implementation, the ministry official added.

The group that held the discussions on physical education was headed by Kendriya Vidyalaya commissioner Santosh Kumar Mall.

It also recommended that students’ fitness levels should be assessed and a national physical education development fund under the HRD ministry should be established.

“The group has also recommended development of community coaches through indexing so that schools would know which area a particular coach resides in and they can seek their help. Also, a number of community and wedding halls remain vacant when they are not in use so they can also be utilised for sports,” said another HRD functionary.

Under the component of value education, several proposals were put forward, including mandatory training for teachers at pre-service and in-service levels, assessment of teachers and students.