CHENNAI: While some educational institutions in the state offer young sportspersons plenty of time to train and excel in their chosen sport, there are other schools where physical education classes are rarely held. The recent incident of students from Tamil Nadu losing a chance to participate in the national-level sports competition after the state failed to upload participation details of the students has brought to light the continuing indifference to sports and physical education in the state.
Corporation school students told TNIE that any student who is interested or skilled in sports is not taken seriously if they are not doing well academically. Moreover, PE classes are left to the schools, whether or not they want to have them.
“Many government and corporation schools lack proper sports faculty. PE teachers are generally appointed based on the student numbers and the ability of the school to provide for them. It is entirely up to the school to have them or not,” said a corporation school teacher on conditions of anonymity.
According to MM Sathish, state secretary of Tamil Nadu Physical Education Teachers and Physical Directors Association, there is no PE teacher or PE periods in primary schools. In the middle schools, there are around 7,000 vacancies but only around 80 have PE teachers. In high schools in the state, of the 6,000 vacancies, only 4,000 positions have been filled. Even in cases when the schools appoint sports teachers, they claim that they receive a stepmotherly treatment.
“PT is not considered to be an important period. Even if the students have an interest, the other teachers barely recognise and respect their interests. Sometimes it’s hard because there are teachers who demand our period to be taken by them,” said Sabri, who works as a PT teacher in a corporation school.
While government and corporation schools compete with private schools concerning infrastructure and scores, sports continue to remain on the back burner, unlike in private schools. “There are not many options. I love basketball but the school does not have a court,” said K Sriram, a student at a government high school.
In an urban setting like Chennai, several corporation schools do not have space for a playground. In addition, staff say, funding is not consistent to stock and maintain equipment. “Sometimes, we get the funding once in two years, sometimes it’s once in three years. Most of the time they send us the materials. The other times they allow us the liberty to spend some amount on sports if they fund certain projects. However, schools have the liberty to spend from PTA (Parent Teacher Association) for sports or any other activities,” said the headmaster of a government school near Chennai.
P Kavya, a student of a government school said, “Me and my friend started to play badminton during the holidays. We started on the same level, but now she is better than me because her school has a badminton court.” School education officials were unavailable for comment.