All is not well with Delhi government's free sports training scheme
NEW DELHI: The Delhi government’s scheme to promote sports among students has hit a roadblock after it came to light that some of the academies employed by the government to impart free training to government school students were not doing so. The Directorate of Education had launched a scheme of involving various academies, clubs and individual trainers for imparting free coaching to the students of government schools.
As per the scheme, the requisite space for providing training has to be provided by the school while the nominated academies have to provide training to students of that school or nearby government schools without charging them. The principal of the school concerned was to ensure that students got free training.
Also, the academies were allowed to train students of nearby non-government schools on reasonable charges. However, during inspections, it was found that many academies were giving training only to students who paid and only a few government school students were getting trained at these centres.
“The act of these academies, clubs and individual trainers is defeating the main purpose of the scheme,” said the DoE in a notice to all the Head of Schools. As per the scheme, it is mandatory for the academies to maintain a ratio of 50:50, i.e. half of the trainees should be government school students and the rest could be those who can afford to pay.
The DoE has directed the principals to display a board at the entry gate showing the name of the academy, the game and the facilities being provided in the academy. The department has also asked the principals to motivate the students and coordinate with the heads of nearby government schools to use the facility available in the academy.