The Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Youth Affairs and Sports Shri Sarbananda Sonowal has said that as Sports is a State subject, the primary responsibility for promoting sports including encouraging sports among students at school and college level is that of States. However, Department of Sports and the Sports Authority of India supplement the efforts of the States. School Games Federation of India (SGFI) and Association of Indian Universities (AIU) have been recognized by the Government of India as National Sports Promotion Organizations (NSPOs) and are eligible for the same level of assistance as are available to National Sports Federations (NSFs).
In a written reply in the Lok Sabha today Shri Sonowal said, conduct of National Championships in the Senior Category (both for men and women), in Junior and Sub-Junior Categories (both for boys and girls) is part of annual calendar of training and competitions of the NSFs. Participants in Junior and Sub-Junior Championships are basically from schools.
The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, has been enacted, making elementary education a Fundamental Right, which, inter alia, provides for
(i) a play ground for each school;
(ii) A part time instructor for physical education in upper primary schools;
(iii) Supply of play material, games and sports equipment, as required, to schools.
In terms of the provisions of the RTE Act, no school shall be established or recognized unless it fulfils the norms specified in the Schedule attached to the Act.
Further, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has made it mandatory for all schools affiliated to it to provide one compulsory period for sports upto 10th class and two periods in a week for classes 11 and 12.
For identifying the talent and nurturing and training the identified talent in the age group of 8 to 18 years, which is mainly from schools and colleges, the Sports Authority of India is running the following schemes:
(i) National Sports Talent Contest (NSTC): The main objective of the scheme is to identify gifted and talented sportspersons among school children in the age group of 8-14 years.
(ii) Army Boys Sports Companies (ABSC) is implemented in collaboration with the Army. Children in the age group of 8-16 years are imparted scientific training to achieve excellence at national and international levels. The scheme also provides job opportunities in the Indian Army.
(ii) Special Area Games (SAG): This Scheme follows an area-specific approach to scout and nurture talent for modern competitive games and sports from tribal, rural, coastal and hilly areas of the country. The main objective of the scheme is to train talented and meritorious sportspersons in the age group of 12-18 years.
(iii) SAI Training Centres (STC): Under this scheme, talented youth in the age group of 12-18 years are given the option to join the scheme on residential or non-residential basis.
(v) Centres of Excellence (COX): The main objective of this scheme is to identify and train outstanding sportspersons who are medal prospects for the country in international competitions.
Trainees under the above-mentioned schemes are provided with stipend, sports kit, accidental insurance, as well as competition exposure.
The details of the funds released to National Sports Federation including SGFI and AIU during last three years and current year are given in Annexure.
(d) The Ministry does not maintain the data about the number of talented youth/ children identified from the schools/colleges of various States for participating in the next international sports competitions.
Sportspersons those from schools, colleges and universities are already part of the various schemes being implemented by the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports and Sports Authority of India. Further, The Ministry has recently formulated a new scheme namely National Sports Talent Search Scheme (NSTSS) for talent identification in the age group of 8-12 years and nurturing of identified talented sportspersons. The scheme document and guidelines have been issued to all State Governments and Union Territories on 20.02.2015, Shri Sonowal added.
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