Participation is first step to winning a competition

CHENNAI: While social reformer and poet Mahakavi Subramania Bharati stressed on the importance of physical activity and discipline in his poem, Odi Vilaiyadu Paapa, it looks like the government and government-aided schools in Tamil Nadu forgot about his advice.

At the national level school sports meet held this year, participation from the State was zero, and this has raised eyebrows at various quarters.

This is indeed surprising especially considering that in the past, Tamil Nadu had produced hundreds of sports-persons from schools, who had later on represented the country at international events.

Every year, School Games Federation of India (SGFI) organises sports meet at the national level to encourage students studying in government and government-aided institutions and showcase their talent through various sports events. The event could not be organised in 2020-2021 due to the pandemic.

This year, SGFI had conducted the 66th National School Games at Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh (June 6-13) with students from 33 states including Puducherry, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. More than 20 sports disciplines including athletics, badminton, boxing, hockey, tennis, shooting, wrestling, football and kabbadi were organised.

However, not a single student from Tamil Nadu had participated in the games this year. This sent shock-waves among the stakeholders and sports-persons especially considering that a student from Puducherry won a bronze medal in the national sports event.

One group blames the SGFI for miscommunication but Alok Khare, secretary general SGFI, dismisses the allegation that the circular about SGFI National School Games Calendar 2022-23 was sent along the application forms to the concerned authorities of all states in 2022 September itself.

A senior official from the School Education Department, seeking anonymity, alleged that the game schedule was not properly communicated by SGFI. “It was delayed and we had less preparation time,” he claimed.

Claiming that the department focuses on the need to nurture the innate sports talent especially among children in government schools, he said: “The sports programme has been designed with two fundamental objectives all students must participate in at least one sport, and inherent sports talent must be identified and groomed to enable skill growth to participate in national and international events.”

But he also admitted the authorities in the schools could have followed it up. “Though the SGFI might have delayed in sending the game schedule, those in-charge know very well every year that this is an annual event, and should have done the follow-up,” he stated.

Non-availability of instructors in over 7,000 government schools is another problem. K Suresh Kumar, representative of the State Physical Education Teachers Welfare Association said that around 7,000 government and government aided schools do not have physical education teachers.

“We couldn’t train students properly. Teachers with no knowledge about sports were monitoring the activities of children,” he alleged.

Pointing out that students in Class 6-12 must participate in State and national level sports events, Kumar said: “Though two periods were allocated for physical education classes per week, many schools were unable to conduct any sports-related activities due to non-availability of trained teachers. Plus, there is no handbook or textbooks for sports period.”

However, sources from the Tamil Nadu Teachers Recruitment Board said that the existing vacancies for physical instructors in the government schools will be filled soon. “A notification would be given shortly. The recruitment will be based on the requirements of the schools,” a senior official.

A retired PT teacher from a government school said that marks were awarded based on the medals won by students, and it helps them get admissions under the sports quota in Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs).

“But this year, it will not be possible for students to get admissions under that quota since they have not participated in the national level competition,” he said.

The former teacher lamented that though there was no dearth of sports talent in the State, the State government should ensure that they’re nurtured well enough to win medals in national-level sports competitions.

“Students from New Delhi won 127 medals including 52 gold in the SGFI national meet. It’s not difficult for TN to cross that next year if the government focuses on coaching them well,” he opined.

The retired teacher also mentioned that many schools have good sports equipment for students.

“But, the usage of sports equipment is less since regular teachers don’t know how to handle it. Many schools do not have playgrounds. Students are forced to do physical activities in the veranda or in class rooms,” he rued.