NEW DELHI: From the 2019-20 academic year, CBSE students will likely have to contend with a new course: sports. If the word from the Sports ministry is anything to go by, it is going to be an essential component of a new subject called ‘health, physical education and sports’.
This was confirmed by sports secretary Rahul Bhatnagar to TNIE during a wide-ranging interview on Friday. “The existing subject called ‘health and physical education’ will be replaced by ‘health, physical education and sports’ from the next academic year (2019-20). It’s something we have actively pursued and recommended (to the CBSE).”
While the CBSE is yet to confirm such a move, the Sports ministry has been trying to get sports as a formal part of the curriculum for quite some time. Both Vijay Goel, who was the sports minister before Rajyavardhan Rathore took over in a cabinet reshuffle in September last year, and Injeti Srinivas, Bhatnagar’s immediate predecessor, had gone on record to talk about the importance of a sports course at the school level.
In fact, Srinivas spoke about how the administration was trying to get such a course into the system in the 2018-19 academic year itself. “There is a no-detention policy until Class 8, but after that, you will have to pass in sports also,” he had said. “We need to work out the details. It can’t be made compulsory in Class 12 all of a sudden.”
As it stands, ‘health and physical education’, a qualifying subject, is taught in CBSE schools every day. On top of this, there is a daily ‘sports period’ for all classes.
Equal weightage for theory and practicals
Schools may implement the subject as they deem fit, but marks for theory and practicals will be given equal weightage. “(Now) it’s 30 marks for practicals and 70 for theory. Going forward, it will be 50 each,” said Bhatnagar