Chennai: As the school education department plans to introduce daily physical education (PE) classes for students, PE teacher associations have asked for better playgrounds before implementing the scheme.Recently, school education minister Rajmohan announced the ‘Odi Vilaiyadu’ initiative, promising one school period a day for sports, arts and co-curricular activities.PE teacher associations welcomed the move, with riders. “More than 6,000 primary and middle schools do not have school grounds. In at least 3,000 of the 5,597 state high and higher secondary schools, playgrounds are not properly maintained; many are used as parking lots. The govt must address this,” said S Sankaraperumal, president, Tamil Nadu Physical Teachers and Physical Directors Association.PE teacher posts have to be created for more than 9,000 middle schools. And the PE teacher-to-student ratio should be brought from 1:700 to 1:250, he said. “In high and higher secondary schools, for instance, only one PE teacher is available for 700 students. There are different needs for middle school, high school, and higher secondary school students. How can one teacher manage more than 500 students?” he asked.The association called for inspections at private matriculation schools, where teachers of other subjects often take over PE periods. “The chief inspector of physical education in every district must regularly inspect private schools, check timetables, and enquire with the students whether they get to do physical education,” Sankaraperumal said.
