Restoring Kerala’s sporting legacy

Children from Kerala have dominated national schools sports meets over the past many years. The athletics contingent has run up an enviable record of 20 straight titles, with talented youngsters from the state having gone on to win laurels for the country. But in recent years, states like Haryana, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh have made significant strides, challenging Kerala’s monopoly in the competitions organised by the Athletics Federation of India. In the junior nationals that concluded in Ranchi on Monday, Haryana upstaged Kerala for the second year running.

Until last year, schools affiliated to  CBSE—be it private, Kendriya Vidyalaya or Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya—as well as ICSE have organised lacklustre sports meets, with the participants hardly getting noticed. Many would agree that sports has taken a major beating in CBSE and ICSE schools due to the excessive stress on academics and poor incentives for taking up sports. In a bid to arrest this trend, the state decided to organise a sports meet exclusively for schools affiliated to national boards. Though detractors criticised it as an unnecessary effort by the government to promote private schools using public funds, sports lovers hailed it as an attempt to create a level playing field for all students. To woo more CBSE/ICSE students to take up sports, it has been decided to provide ‘weightage’ to them during admissions to various courses. They will also be entitled to admission under sports quota.

If the education department concurs, top performers from the Kerala State Central School Sports Meet would get the promised ‘weightage’ from the upcoming academic year. Efforts are on to obtain eligibility for the winners in the meet to participate in the Khelo India School Games—the national-level multidisciplinary platform for Under-17 school children. With over 15 lakh children now in CBSE schools, this may well be Kerala’s ticket to sporting redemption.