It is good news for school-going sports enthusiasts. As part of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 implementation, sports education will soon be made part of school curriculum.
As per the source, the education ministry will bring out detailed guidelines in three months.
“There will be a dual role of the school and their sports teachers. One will be to gauge the interest of the students in sports and hone their talent. The other will be to help select future athletes for proper training at external locations,” a government official said.
Notable reforms of NEP 2020
The National Education Policy 2020 was passed by the Union Cabinet in July 2020, making it the first educational policy to be passed by the government in the last 34 years. The NEP 2020 aims to completely revamp the education system in India.
According to the NEP 2020, the 10+2 structure of school curricula is to be replaced by a 5+3+3+4 curricular structure corresponding to ages 3-8, 8-11, 11-14, and 14-18 years respectively. The new system will have 12 years of schooling with three years of Anganwadi/pre-schooling.
The NEP 2020 also aims to increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education, including vocational education, from 26.3 per cent (2018) to 50 per cent by 2035. At least 3.5 crore new seats will be added to higher education institutions.
What will be the changes?
In a given academic week, there will be a number of hours set aside for sports. Each student would be able to give their preferences, depending on their interests and aptitude.
However, this will be different in each school, depending on the facilities available. And the sports teachers in the school could take further action depending on the skill sets of the students.
For instance, a student wanting to pursue athletics or track sports in a school without the facilities could be referred to a neighbourhood school (for using their training ground).
