The Samagra Shiksha, Kerala, and the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) have prepared a draft inclusive sports manual for promoting the sporting talents of differently abled students.
The inclusive sports programme aims at promoting sports with participation of individuals with different kinds of disabilities and those without disabilities. This will see sports activities planned for physically challenged, visually challenged, hearing impaired, intellectually disabled and other students, and include those without disabilities too.
This will not only help students with disabilities in terms of motor skill development, fitness, and social skills, but also enable students without such challenges to understand and accept the issues faced by those who have disabilities.
Besides the benefits accruing from sports activities, the programme provides opportunities for differently abled students to rise to greater heights in their chosen sport such as participation in national and international events such as Paralympics, Special Olympics, and World Dwarf Games.
The programme was initiated before COVID-19, but not much progress could be made then.
Now, it is being revived. Fifteen sports are being included in the programme. These include athletics, football, cricket, basketball, volleyball, table tennis, and cycling. Inclusive minor games are also included so that differently abled children who do not like physical sports or are bedridden can also be included.
A tryout, likely a residential camp, to introduce children to the sports and train them will be held next month to understand the advantages and any lacunae that need to be addressed before the draft manual is finalised. The camps will need to be held for each sport and across venues suited to them.
A resource pool of physical education teachers and special educators will also be created. A team of five from each district will be trained in both theory (such as sports classification) and practical aspects of the programme so that they can act as master trainers and train other teachers and educators at the sub-district level. A quality resource pool will thus be formed to carry out further activities such as constitution of teams for various sports.
Later on, a trainer’s manual too will be brought out as a few teachers are qualified and experience enough to conduct such activities.
Sports clubs will be formed in each block resource centre of the Samagra Shiksha, Kerala, for training students.
Officials say they hope to put in place all arrangements in the upcoming academic year and begin field-level implementation of the programme by organising an official competition in the 2023-24 year.
