TIRUCHY: Stressing that sports must be integrated into mainstream education, TN Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar on Saturday said physical education should be treated as an essential part of the curriculum rather than as an extra-curricular activity.
Addressing a one-day national workshop on “NEP 2020 - Redefining Sports and Physical Education in Higher Education” at National College in Tiruchy, he said there must be a shift in approach from focusing only on top performers to ensuring wider student participation.
Calling for data-driven discussions, the Governor said there should be a clear assessment of how many schools and colleges have proper physical education infrastructure, how many have trained physical educators, and how many students actively participate.
Describing the NEP 2020 as the first policy that is highly student-centric, he said it moves away from being teacher and institution-centric. After the event, Governor visited Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple in Srirangam. It may be noted that the print and visual media journalists were denied permission to cover the event citing ‘security concerns’ despite the invitation to the media houses from the organisers.