CHENNAI: Sweet distribution, flag hoisting, competitions, and cultural performances. While these used to be the norm on Independence Day in any school across the State, the festival fervour has been dampened a bit in the past two years due to the pandemic.
Though a few schools are taking the virtual route to celebrate Independence Day, the festivities are nothing like before. Even though debates and competitions have gone online, there is something crucial that the students are completely missing out on since the pandemic began – sports.
Since most schools organised sports day on Independence Day, it served as an opportunity for coaches to pick students to represent the school in zonal and district levels. But, with the academics itself taking a hit, sports has taken a backseat. Also, there has been no sporting activity or NSS/NCC camp since the pandemic began.
“We got to witness events with hundreds of participants on sports days. It was easy to spot talent that way. When it comes to sports, it is crucial to see how a player performs under pressure. Skill can easily be assessed during competitions like these,” said G Muruga, Physical Education (PE) teacher at a school in KK Nagar.
Also, coaches fear that the speed and endurance of students across sports might fall due to a lack of practice and competitions. “For students performing in tournaments, we have to start the training from the scratch again. A few students playing team sports like volleyball, basketball, and football are practising. But sports requiring individual attention like swimming took a hit,”said PE teacher, K Balaji. Coaches scout and encourage students who usually do well in sports drills and march past, he added.
According to a government school PE teacher, S Madan, with a lot of pressure to do well in academics, students may not show the same interest in sports as before even if they return to school. “During the Olympics, many are calling for more importance to be given to sports. The sports day competitions serve as a crucial ground. Usually, students from North India perform much better in competitions because they play regularly. Though virtual learning could be lauded, schools must find a way to engage students in sports again,” he added.