14 May 2011: The state Government has recently taken a decision to reduce the strength of Physical Education Trainers in the government schools. This decision seems to be strange as other states like Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka are more emphasizing on improving the physical education curriculum, our state is acting in reverse.
The government has issued a GO Ms No – 55 on April 24 of this year, which states that only 1 PET trainer has to be appointed for every 820 students in the government schools. This is in contrast to other states like Maharashtra and Karnataka, where there are 2 PETs for every 300 students. At present the total strength in government schools is not more than 1000 students, therefore, it means that every government school will have only 1 PET staff. The government in the GO has also decided to cut down 1500 physical education teacher’s posts from the total of 7,500 posts.
This decision comes as a blow to the physical education trainers, who in 2009 have obtained the nod for making the games a compulsory part of the educational curriculum. But later the government has taken back the decision stating that it is not necessary for schools to have playground for getting recognition.
Already, only 50 percent of the state government schools have playgrounds. The state is also suffering from inadequate trainers for the sports like football, basketball, badminton and table tennis. These steps taken by the state against promoting physical activity in schools is putting the state’s future in the area of national and state level sports in question.
Source: Times of India