Sports education in India: A contemporary perspective

Abstract

The Indian Government recognised the importance of adopting sports as part of successful youth development as early as 1984 to form the National Sports Policy which made sports and physical education an integral part of the school curriculum. National Sports Policy, 2011, stresses the value of sports and physical education in developing human capital, increasing productivity, and in fostering social harmony. In the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020 also, the flexibility to choose subjects from sciences and humanities with the ability to also learn fine arts and sports will give students a wide range of subjects to choose without the restrictions they faced earlier. Games and sport-based activities have formed a dominant part of the physical education curriculum with an interest in providing a meaningful and culturally situated sporting experience to students. Sport education is among the most popularly implemented and researched pedagogical model worldwide. When sports are made an integral part of the curriculum, students report healthier eating habits, better levels of cardiovascular fitness, increased parental support, and decreased levels of anxiety and depression. A national study also displayed a positive correlation between student-athletes and decline in drug, alcohol, and substance abuse.