Fill up coaches’ posts urgently: Panel

A parliamentary panel, reviewing the NDA government’s flagship sports scheme Khelo India, has expressed serious concern over 36 per cent vacant coaching posts, which it feels is affecting the performance and training of Indian athletes. Of the sanctioned strength of 1524 coaches, 544 posts are vacant. The committee has asked the concerned departments to fill up the posts quickly.

The HRD panel has also said that sportspersons be given basic education, as “promotion of sports is not feasible in isolation”. The panel also pointed out that 893 sportspersons—or about 59 per cent of the total 1518 selected in 2018 for further training—refused to join due to lack of integrated education facilities available at such centres.

“The panel recommended that private educational institutions with quality sports infrastructure should be identified and developed as model residential sports schools or centres of excellence for sports to nurture children academically also, besides developing their sports talent,” said a press release.

The panel also referred to Odisha’s PPP (public-private partnership) model under which the state government and corporate sector joined hands to fund 10 special centres for badminton and shooting, among others. The panel asked the private sector to get involved in the creation of quality sports infrastructure and propagation of the culture of sports.