Academic learning and Sports Education are, actually, the complementariness of each other. They are the two sides of the same coin. If total education makes full development of the over-all personality of a pupil possible, he gets the qualities of leadership, tolerance, sharing and team-spirit from sports.
The mental development, including the power of reasoning and vocational specialization, of course, comes from the academics. It, therefore, becomes imperative that education should result in the mental, moral and physical development of a student.
But no one can deny that, unfortunately, the present-day system of education lays too much stress on mental development, pays only lip sympathy to moral enrichment and completely neglects physical well-being of a student. The over-all result is the coming up of hordes of graduates, postgraduates and diversified professionals with frail body and poor physique.
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For an all-round development of a child, the curriculum should include sports and games and health education. Sufficient amount of school time should be devoted to Sports and Physical Training.
It is heartening to note that in order to rectify the past mistake, the C.B.S.E. and most other Boards of Education in many states have made the Sports Education a compulsory subject up to the + 2 level. But the irony is that the subject has yet to get due seriousness and importance in practice.
Sports Education needs to be introduced with all earnestness, because mental and moral development is just not possible without physical development. We must remember that ‘a sound mind dwells only in a sound body’. A strong and healthy student will, in the long run, surpass the pale, sickly, scholar who is merely a bookworm.
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A healthy and strong body is not possible without sports. The development of body is very essential in life. All our physical enjoyments, and to some extent, even mental enjoyments, depend upon our body. All our degrees and achievements will be of no use without a good physique and healthy personality.
Life is a struggle and the person with a healthy and strong body alone can face it successfully. Besides promoting health and strength, sports develop many good qualities of the head and the heart. They strengthen the power of endurance and promote discipline, fair play and team spirit.
Young men and women are trained to face defeat with a smile and maintain humility even in victory. Games are the greatest and the healthiest means of refreshment and recreation. They fill one with joy, zeal, vitality and enthusiasm, which help a person a lot in facing the actual odds of life without yielding to gloom or pessimism.
So sports are not only essential but also indispensable for an all-round development of the personality. The famous saying, “The battle of Waterloo was won on the play-grounds of Eton,” correctly and aptly sums up the importance of sports in education.
