National Physical Literacy Mission | 10 May 2022

Why in News?

Recently, the Supreme Court has asked the Centre and States to respond to a report recommending sports to be expressly made a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution.

• Further, the report submitted by the court’s amicus curiae (friend of the court) suggested that the “narrow” phrase ‘sport’ be replaced by ‘physical literacy’, which is a term “firmly established as a right in the leading sporting nations of the world”.

What is the Premise of the Supreme Court’s Ruling?

• The report was filed in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) to amend the Constitution to make sports a fundamental right and amend the Directive Principles of State Policy to include an obligation to “strive for promotion of sports education”.
• It had urged that sports should be transferred to the Concurrent List to facilitate cooperative work between the Centre and states (at present, sports is a state subject).

What did the Report Suggest?

• Responsibility Matrix: Central Government should launch ‘National Physical Literacy Mission’.
  • The mission should implement a responsibilities’ matrix that includes curriculum design, compliance monitoring, and review, grievance redressal and self-correction mechanisms which starts at the school level to groom children for various sports.
• Dedicated Time for Sports: All school boards including CBSE, ICSE, State Boards, IB, IGCSE should be directed to ensure that from the academic year commencing 2022-2023, at least 90 minutes of every school day will be dedicated to free play and games.
• Sports Facilities for Free: State governments ought to ensure that from the current academic year, all educational institutions in their non-working hours, should allow neighborhood children to use their playgrounds and sports facilities for free.
• Draft ‘Physical Literacy Policy’: A 180 days' time should be given to educational institutions to draft ‘Physical Literacy Policy’.
  • The policy will include the institution’s commitment to a ‘no-child-left-behind’ approach.
  • It should ensure that the institution’s physical literacy activities are designed and delivered in a manner that is inclusive of students.
• Internal Committee: There is a need to create an internal committee to address specific cases where there is a failure in responsibilities to deliver the right to physical literacy of students.
• Dashboard: There is a need to create a dashboard with real time data on mapping of available playgrounds and open spaces and their utilization rates, availability and qualifications of physical education teachers, curricula, timetables, and equipment in educational institutions across the country.

Source: TH