Sports to be included in school curriculum in Odisha from next academic year

With Bhubaneswar emerging as a major sports hub in the country, the Odisha government has taken an important decision to include sports in the school curriculum from the next academic year.

As per the decision by the State government, sports will be made mandatory in the school curriculum in the next phase.

Odisha has organised many national and international level tournaments in the State. The state government is also supporting many sports like hockey, kho-kho, rugby and swimming. With the hosting of many mega hockey tournaments including the Men’s Hockey World Cup in Odisha, the State has been transformed into a hockey hob.

The Odisha government has made a provision of Rs 1,217 crore for sports in the State budget. Several projects with an expenditure amount of Rs 2,500 crore are currently under construction in the State. Odisha government has also started many High-Performance Centers with the help of corporate houses in the State for excellence of different sports events. As many as 17 astro turfs have been laid in Sundargarh which is popularly known as the nursery of hockey. Moreover, 89 multi-purpose indoor stadiums have been built in different urban areas across the State. Odisha government has also developed as many as six FIFA standard pitches at different places.

As per sources, the Odisha government will focus on cricket in the coming days.

“The Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium in Sundargarh has been officially recognised as the largest hockey stadium in the world by entering the Guinness Book of Records. We have also taken other transformative initiatives under 5T for the development of sports in the State. The budget of the Sports Department has increased manifold and it is currently around Rs 1300 crore which is the highest for any State in the country,” said Sports Minister Tusharkanti Behera.

Meanwhile, Sports Secretary R Vineel Krishna said, “We have taken different initiatives like training of PETs. We are also involving school students during different championships and grassroots programmes in the State. We have inked a pact with International Olympic Committee (IOC) under which around 1.5 lakh students from 250 schools are taking part in Olympic Value Education Programmes. Our effort is to integrate sports into the school curriculum. We are planning to start the initiative from the next academic year.”