As govt schools lack PE teachers, kids deprived of physical education

MANGALURU: Due to lack of physical education teachers in govt schools, children are being deprived of physical education. Based on the number of students, physical education teachers are allocated in higher primary schools.

This problem is across the state.According to officials, PE teachers have not been recruited for close to two decades, and many of the older ones have retired. Teachers are moved to another school when admissions are low; however, new teachers are not recruited when admissions improve.As per the available data, in Dakshina Kannada, there are a total of 287 PE teacher posts in govt higher primary schools. Among them, only 160 are currently working.

There are a total of 659 govt higher primary schools, 233 lower primary schools, and 170 high schools. "It is mandatory to have a physical education teacher irrespective of the number of students in high schools. Currently, there are only 132 teachers in 170 high schools," said Govinda Madivala, DDPI, Dakshina Kannada.Bhuvanesh J, district Physical Education Officer, DK, told TOI that no physical education teacher has been recruited since 2007.

As per rule, every higher primary school with over 200 students should have one physical education teacher. Many schools have these numbers, but teachers are not recruited in these schools. "We requested the state to recruit PE teachers just like how the guest subject teachers are appointed for every district. We also proposed recruiting guest teachers to each BEO where they will visit and train students. None of the suggestions have been considered.

This has led to schools having sports teams without trained teachers. The situation is worse in aided govt schools where there are less than 10 physical education teachers currently," he said.Mohiuddin Kutty, president of SDMC coordination committee, said that in a memorandum to the education department, they have requested to reallocate available physical education teachers from nearby schools to all schools on a weekly basis, ensuring no child is deprived of physical education.The school report card: Physical Education from the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2024 also highlighted the lack of physical education teachers in Karnataka.