Despite India’s best performance ever in the Olympics which concluded recently in Tokyo, there is a feeling that the country could have done much better.
Sportspersons and administrators have pointed out that there are specific reasons why we don’t do well in sports. These include lack of a sports culture, education and awareness among children about games. This holds absolutely true for traditional educational institutions like madrasas and gurukuls, where sports don’t form a part of education.
In order to address these issues, a non-governmental organisation “Sports: A Way Of Life”, released a set of four books on August 25 (Wednesday). These are “Krida Paricharika”; “Krida Ek Jeevan Padyathi”; “Khel Qaida”; and “Khel Safa”. The first two are in Sanskrit and the remaining in Urdu – for pathshalas and madrasas in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad district.
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Explaining to India Narrative, about these four publications, the President of the NGO, Dr. Kanishka Pandey who is the Head of Sports Research Centre, IMT, Ghaziabad said: “The main reason why we are not able to perform as per our expectation in Olympic game is because we do not have sports culture. In order to promote sports culture each and every segment of the society has to be included in mainstream sports. In order to do that, four different books in Sanskrit and Urdu language have been launched to increase the reach of sports in the madrasas and gurukuls.”
Sharing details about the two children books – “Khel Kayda” and “Krida Paricharika”, Pandey said: “For the young children there are alphabetic booklets that will help them in identifying different sports. If a child can be taught 'A' for Apple, 'B' for Ball then why can't he/she be taught 'A' for Athletic and 'B' for Basketball.”
Keeping in mind a teacher’s role in encouraging students, the NGO’s other books — “Khel Safa” and “Krida Ek Jeevan Padyathi” – are for them. “These will help teachers understand personality development, character building, tackling depression through sports, etc. Once they are aware, the children will automatically become aware,” Pandey told India Narrative.
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Wanting to connect with students of gurukuls and madrasas, Sanskrit and Urdu were chosen to be the medium for these books. “Our studies and surveys indicated a lack of sports culture in madrasas and gurukuls and to ensure that the benefits of sports reach them, we chose Sanskrit and Urdu. Children and people should read about the benefits of sports in a language they are comfortable with. Once the passion for sports is triggered in these children, we will have a large pool of talent to tap from,” remarked Pandey.
The NGO has already got in touch with these traditional educational institutions and are greatly encouraged by their response.
