The importance of sports as part of the school curriculum was laid out in a presentation to the Meghalaya Education Commission (MEC) on Wednesday.
The MEC invited John F Kharshiing, working president of the Meghalaya State Olympics Association (MSOA) to present his insights and knowledge related to integrating sports with education, so as to deliberate on the suggestions to assist the commission in their process of framing recommendations for closer synergy between education and sports and how both can contribute to mass participation of children from and early age.
The 70-page presentation titled ‘Education and Sports: A Balanced Approach’ was presented by Kharshiing. He shared the importance of sports to the development of physical, mental and inter-personal attributes. Additionally, he emphasised the existence of the progressive Meghalaya Sports Policy 2019 and Meghalaya Youth Policy 2021 and the specific points mentioned therein for the betterment of athletes and youths.
Kharshiing also proposed steps forward for the MEC’s consideration and deliberations. These steps forward include mapping and improvement of infrastructure, mass participation in talent identification, contracting qualified sports coaches, physical education teachers for 15,000 schools, sports specialists and professionals, sports psychologists, physiotherapists, masseurs, sports hostels, Olympians for the sports science centre, sports schools in every district, allocating specific timings for sports curriculum in schools, etc.
MEC Chairperson Prof SM Sungoh thanked the MSOA for the presentation.
