Abstract
The present study is from 2300 government schools across four states in India where a structured physical education (PE) program has run up to three years. Effects of PE on life skills have been studied globally as well as in India. Most studies attribute social and emotional skills and communication to be some of the most influenced skills by PE (Sindiani et al., 2025; Malinauskas & Malinauskiene, 2021; Dyson et al., 2021). In this context the present study tries to understand the effects of such a program in government schools on social skills of children as well as on making physical activities more accessible for girls and school participation indicators. This is done through structured case studies as well as two self-reported perception studies of students and teachers in randomly chosen schools across all the 4 states. Additionally, the study analyzes the effects of the strategies deployed by the program to create a sustained PE system in the schools. Studies and reports show that historically the PE system in Indian schools have suffered from various ailments, especially lack of teachers and infrastructure, lack of upskilling opportunities for the existing teachers, lack of structured modules and pedagogy in the domain and others (ASER, 2024, 2022; Prajapati et al., 2023). The present study uses the responses from teachers and principals in the two perception surveys to analyze the effects of the program in tackling each of these challenges and create internal ownership and capacity in the schools to sustain such programs themselves.
Presenters
Kingshuk RoyHead; Monitoring, Evaluation and Research, M&E; Research, Dani Sports Foundation, Delhi, India Kshitij Patil
Vice-President, Physical Literacy, Dani Sports Foundation, Delhi, India
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Physical Education; Government Schools; Sports for Development; India
