MADURAI: In a clear indication of schools not striking a balance between studies and games, a survey conducted by the district physical education department has revealed that only 11 per cent of high schools and higher secondary schools in the district are having playgrounds. This is in violation of the physical education criteria, which mandates a playground that has at least a 200 metre athletic track in each school. The absence of playgrounds has also led to institutions promoting just indoor games and doing away with the mandatory annual sports event.
There are 256 high and higher secondary schools including government, aided, and private schools being run across the three education districts of Madurai, Melur, and Usilampatti.
According to sources in the district physical education department, only 10 out of 69 schools in Melur, 15 out of 79 schools in Usilampatti and 12 out of 108 schools in Madurai are provided with playgrounds.
Even highly-populated government and government-aided schools are unmindful of the need to maintain playgrounds. Statistics reveal that Melur Government Girls Higher Secondary School and PKN Girls Higher Secondary School at Tirumangalam together host about 3000 girl students but without proper playgrounds. “In PKN school, even 100 students cannot stand spaciously. The lack of space has forced the school administration to conduct the morning prayer only in the classrooms”, said a Physical Education Trainer (PET) of a government school.
Private schools too are not far behind when it comes to such facilities. So much so that some private schools take their students to Dr MGR Stadium at Race Course for practices.
“With no proper playgrounds, PETs were left with no choice but to promote mostly the indoor games like badminton, taekwondo, carrom, and chess,” added the PET.
Most of the schools don’t celebrate annual sports days and even if they do they conduct a few games just for the record, said the physical education teacher.
Lack of encouragement to sports and outdoor games clearly reflected on the district’s performance in state-level and national-level competitions. This year, 193 medals were won by students from Madurai district in both national and state-level games but they were mostly in indoor games.