KOCHI: In a first, the state will be holding a mega Kerala School Games that will see the participation of students from all education boards. Unlike in the past, when each board — state board, CBSE, KVs, ICSE and Navodaya — organised their own sports meets, a decision was arrived at to hold a unified event under the aegis of the Kerala Olympic Association (KAO).
The aim is to find talented students and train them to compete in international sporting events. “The games will happen in October or November. However, the process for holding the games has begun with the selection of the organising committee,” said Indira Rajan, secretary-general, National Council of CBSE Schools, who is also the vice-chairperson of the games state organising committee and executive member of the KAO high-power committee.
“The present system of organising sports meets by the boards individually has not yielded any results when it comes to improving the quality of sportspersons in the state. However, when all students from different boards take part in a single sports meet and compete against each other, we will be able to glean talents and then groom them to perform in the national and international games,” she added.
Indira said the games would boost the sports sector in the state. Education Minister V Sivankutty has assured his support, she added. “Such a joint event has not been tried anywhere in the country,” she noted. “It will help a lot in boosting boards like CBSE and ICSE, which have not been getting the much-needed exposure or boost in the education sector in the state.”
Also, at a time when the National Education Policy (NEP) has merged sports and other co-curricular activities into the curriculum intending to give equal importance to games and arts, the conduct of the Kerala School Games will benefit the students. “With the Kerala Olympic Association taking the lead to organise the games, we may be able to produce athletes who will be well-trained to compete in the international events maybe in five to ten years,” she added.
According to V Sunil Kumar, president of the Kerala Olympic Association, students belonging to different school boards from 14 districts in the state will be competing in 25 events in the games. “This is a first-of-its-kind initiative. The games will be a humongous event. It will have two levels. In the first part, games will be held at the district level with the participation of 30,000 students. Around 10,000 medal winners from the district-level events will then compete in the state-level games,” he said.
“As a part of the KAO’s goal towards moulding and training athletes from the state to perform at the international events like the Olympics, it has been decided by the CSR committee of the association to adopt 30 best students from five events at the school games.
The association will take care of the educational needs of these students. That will include providing the children with high-quality accommodation and training under national and international coaches.” Sunil said `3 crore was set aside for this purpose. “This process of selecting the best student athletes will be continued in the successive games that will be held every year. We want to strengthen the sporting sector in the state,” he added.
All in one
Organised by the Kerala Olympic Association, Kerala School Games to have participants from institutions under all educational boards compete against each other.