Physical deficit

Anshuman Singh (14), football fan and sports enthusiast, can’t get enough of sports, the outdoors and his Physical Education (PE) classes at school.

Anshuman Singh (14), football fan and sports enthusiast, can’t get enough of sports, the outdoors and his Physical Education (PE) classes at school. However, the Class 9 student gets precisely two 35-minute PE periods a week at RN Podar School in Santacruz. “It would be nice to have more time to play in-between classes,” he says — echoing the grouse of thousands of schoolchildren across Mumbai. Singh compensates by playing football after school, sometimes until as late at nine at night, when he has to be home for dinner.

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Not all students can set aside that kind of time or commitment. So, between balancing schoolwork and post-school tuitions, are students getting enough exercise in their daily schedule at school?

We asked 16 schools — ICSE, CBSE, SSC, IB, A-levels and IGCSE affiliated — spread across the city, how much compulsory physical activity (excluding optional sports coaching) they scheduled for students during school hours.

The survey revealed that, on an average, students get 90 to 100 minutes of compulsory physical activity per week. And that parents, teachers and students alike felt PE was not given its due in the daily timetable.

Most of these PE slots follow a pattern — some basic drills, exercises, then time for students to play a sport of their choice.

Schools insist that their hands are tied because of tight schedules, academic demands and, in some cases, lack of open spaces.

“Finding the time and place for students to get physical exercise is truly an uphill struggle,” says Meera Isaacs, principal of Cathedral and John Connon School at Fort. It gets worse in the higher classes, she says: “The senior students
in particular don’t get enough.”

Space is a big problem for south Mumbai schools, but even those in the suburbs that have a fair amount of it face constraints. Jamnabai Narsee School at Juhu, for instance, has its own ground adjoining the main building, and 500 students show up every morning for the two-hour pre-school optional sports coaching. But, asks principal Sudeshna Chatterjee, “is it feasible to have all 4,000 students out there at the same time?” That is the reason the morning slot is not compulsory, she explains.

And of course, there are the demands of academics. “Kids would love to have more PE but we also have the requirements of the curriculum to take care of,” points out Chatterjee.

Despite the constraints, schools are trying to improvise. Yoga, for instance, has started to feature increasingly on school timetables. “It is important for kids to learn yoga — it has a calming influence,” says Paul Machado, principal of Campion School, which introduced a twice-weekly compulsory yoga period last year.

Schools also provide the option of taking up PE and, in a few cases, yoga, as an examined subject in the senior classes. Some like Children’s Academy, Kandivli, give students marks for every medal they win, as an incentive to take part in sports.

Making it count
Schools do have some rules laid out in this regard. The SSC Board directs schools to conduct 120 minutes of PE a week, while the IB programme (Classes 11 and 12) requires students to complete 50 hours of some sporting activity over a two-year period. With the ongoing evolution of the CBSE curriculum, that report card will now also grade students on sporting activity. “So far, PE periods have been marginalised in timetables. Physical activity needs to be structurally integrated into the curriculum,” says Dr K.B. Kushal, director of Maharashtra’s CBSE-affiliated DAV schools.

To compensate, schools offer training in various sports before and after school. While cricket is the national obsession, several schools do include other sports as well. Interestingly, the range of sports to choose from has increased even as the compulsory exercise component suffers. The Father Agnel Multipurpose School in Vashi now has a shooting range, while the Naval Children School at Navy Nagar introduced sailing as an option this year.

However, Mukesh Kohli, associate professor of physical education at Ram Lal Anand College, Delhi University, sounds a warning note about enrolling children in sports classes of differing degrees of difficulty when they don’t get enough of the basics. “Children need to first exercise to develop balance, agility and strength at the basic level,” he says.

“Emphasising skill without enforcing the basics is like having an icing without the cake.”

It is a dilemma many Mumbai parents face. Anjali Parekh (name changed on request), parent of two, is not too happy that her 14-year-old daughter has to learn gymnastics from a private teacher, at a hefty price. “Why should I have to set aside precious time and money to send my children for activities outside school? Should the school not provide enough exercise slots during the day?” she asks.

It’s an argument that has gone round in a cycle for too long now.