No sports facility in 100 govt schools

Ashutosh Kumar, a class VII student at Government Co-ed Senior Secondary School in north-west Delhi's Rohini, wants to refine athletic skills as he aspires to win an Olympic medal for the country. However, the 12-year-old is not getting the opportunity in the absence of a working sports ground in his school.

For Kumar, son of an e-rickshaw driver, enrolling in a private school with a well-equipped playground is a distant dream."I don't have interest in studies. I want to pursue sports as a career option. Our school doesn't have a playground where I can practice. I asked my parents to change my school but they can't afford it," he said.

Even as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Delhi government talks about creating a sports university and provide specialised training to tap sports talents, as many as 100 government schools in the Capital do not even have sports grounds, reply to an RTI filed by DNA revealed.

Under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009, it is mandatory to have a playground on school premises. And, in the absence of space, the schools have to make adequate arrangements in a nearby park/playground."No such effort has been taken by the school authority even as we don't have a sports ground," said a faculty member at Government Boys Senior Secondary School, Mangolpuri.

The Delhi government recently constructed two new swimming pools - one in Mayur Vihar Phase-2 and another in west Vinod Nagar - and a world-class hockey stadium in Boys Senior Secondary School in Ghumanhera village."What will they do in the absence of trained teachers? 50 per cent of the sanctioned posts for Physical Education Teachers are lying vacant," said Ajay Veer Yadav, general secretary, Government School Teachers Association and a physical education teacher at a school in Karol Bagh.

As per a recent data, of the 864 sanctioned posts of post-graduate teacher (PGT) Physical Education, 636 are lying vacant. Also, among graduate teachers (TGTs), supposed to teach up to class VIII, of the 2205 sanctioned posts, 901 are lying vacant.

Officials at the Directorate of Education (DoE), however, cited lack of space to construct sports grounds in these schools. However, teachers said the government should focus on arranging cluster sports grounds."The government can make cluster grounds for two-three nearby schools. But no such efforts are being taken at their end," Yadav added.

• Around 100 government schools in the capital do not even have sports grounds
   
• Of 864 sanctioned posts of post-graduate teacher (PGT) Physical Education, 636 are lying vacant in government schools.
   
• Of 2205 sanctioned posts graduate teachers (TGTs), 901 are lying vacant.