Union
Minister of State (Independent Charge) Youth Affairs & Sports Shri Ajay Maken today unveiled the Exposure Draft on National Physical
Fitness Programme (NPFP), for school children. Recognizing Physical Fitness as
the underlying paradigm core for social as well as the economic well being of
the nation, the programme aims at ensuring Physical Fitness amongst all school
children by putting into place a system that would assess and ascertain a child’s
physical fitness from class V onwards. It would entail the formulation of a
scientific programme and criteria to first motivate and encourage school going
children of both sexes to be physically fit and concurrently evaluate their
fitness. It has to be realized that the scheme needs to be motivational rather
than coercive and to obtain this, the achievement of fitness by a child as to
be rewarded in a manner similar to reward for academic achievement, Shri Maken elaborated.
After
a comprehensive exercise that involved development of universally applicable
standards by studying, juxtaposing and extra collating various existing models
like that of Sports Authority of India, Army and Paramilitary Organisations as also concurrently running methods of the
State Governments of Haryana and Kerala.
Six basic components of physical fitness have been evolved; they are:
(i)
Cardio respiratory endurance,
(ii)
Muscular strength,
(iii)
Muscular endurance,
(iv)
Flexibility,
(v)
Explosive Strength, and
(vi)
Body composition (percentage of body
fat).
Periodicity
of testing
The fitness tests need to be executed at least
two times in a year i.e., in the month of June and January of academic session,
which will provide an idea regarding present status as well as improvement of
physical fitness during academic session of the student.
Marking
and Grading
The National Physical Fitness Programme
envisages that every school going child studying in class V and above, should
be evaluated on the above mentioned six components of physical fitness by being
made to participate and compete in the enumerated eight measurable fitness
tests. The student’s performance is
accordingly graded and fed into the child’s ‘Assessment Card’ and the school’s
‘Fitness Assessment Forms’ as designed by the Lakshmibai
National University for Physical Education (LNUPE), Gwalior. Subsequent collection & collation from
across the schools shall be done at the level of the District and grades
allotted to every child on the basis of percentile system for marking &
grading.
The students shall undergo these eight tests
on two pre-determined dates in the months of January and June every year. While the conduct of these tests and their
evaluation could be done by suitably trained internal personnel/staff during
the child’s non Board years, the same shall be entrusted to external
observers/examiners in the years in which the child is taking his class X/XII
Board exams.
The enabling administrative provisions as
also implementing manpower shall be provided by the concerned State Governments
as enumerated. The scores/grades
achieved by every child shall be enumerated in print on standardised
‘Assessment Cards and Fitness Assessment Forms’ prepared by LNUPE, Gwalior.
After collection and collation of data
at the district level, the same shall be linked to the Central Server
administered by the LNUPE through the Core Application Software (CAS)
supplemented by System Integrators.
Setting up of a Knowledge Resource
Centre is of paramount importance, as its role will be very critical in working
out and developing age specific, gender specific and region specific physical
fitness parameters, collection and analysis of data with regard to physical
fitness standards and re-working of the physical fitness norms, if necessary on
the basis of data collated during implementation and the initial few years.
The Knowledge Centre will be set up at
Gwalior within the premises of the LNUPE, so that it can have close linkages
with the University, which has already done a lot of work in this field. Apart from being the data base, the Knowledge
Centre will be a research and development unit for working out physical fitness
norms, suggesting fitness modules, giving its suggestions for implementing
agencies for effective implementation of the programme.
Motivation and Rewards
The top 10 percentage of gender wise
performers in each district in the battery of tests indicated above shall be
given an additional 3% to the percentage obtained by him/her in academic
disciplines. Subsequently, performers
between top 10 to 20 percentage will get additional 2.5 %, performers between
20 to 30 percentage will get 2%, between 30 to 40 percentage will get 1.5% and
between 40 to 50 percentage will get additional 1% weightage
in their marking which may be converted into grades as per prevalent
norms.
In India the concept of nation-wide
implementation of Physical Fitness programme was initiated during 1959 and the
then Ministry of Education and Social Welfare, Govt. of India had developed a
test battery “National Physical Efficiency Drive” (NPED) for inculcating
awareness of Physical fitness among the people.
The level of physical efficiency was then assessed and graded by
awarding “Star system” (i.e. 3 stars, 2 stars etc.) However, the programme was
discontinued as it was based on inappropriate and inaccurate assessment of
physical fitness norms. This scheme of
grading should be revived by providing for giving 5 STARS to the children
amongst the top 10 percent, 4 STARS to the next 10 percent and so on in a
descending order.
In the present proposal marks and grades are
linked to the academic performance and fruits thereof. It is felt that if fitness level is linked to
academic excellence; it will motivate the students and the parents alike, to
strive for it. Care has also been taken
to ensure that an over-riding pan Indian or even state-wide standard is not
adopted in working out the grading system.
By adopting a district specific percentile system, it is ensured that
unfair advantage is not given to any region or district in the country.
It is proposed that six National Physical Fitness
Awards may be constituted and awarded by the President of India at the Annual
National Sports Day function. The awards
may be in the category of Best Performing State, District and School as also
for the State, District and School that has improved the most during the last
one year.
CONSULTATIONS WITH STAKE HOLDERS
The above draft exposure will be available
in public domain for comments and suggestions from general public as well as
stake holders for the next 30 days.
Consultations with the State Governments, Ministry of Human Resource
Development and other stake holders will be undertaken,
thereafter a committee of experts comprising representatives from the field of
education, health and sports will be constituted to look into the suggestions
and points that emerge out of discussion with stakeholders before finalizing
the National Physical Fitness Programme for the School Children.
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