75 Bharatiya sports including ‘Gilli Danda’ set to be introduced in schools

On the second anniversary of the implementation of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, Union Home Minister, Amit Shah launched a series of initiatives in the education and skills development sector.

One of them was the introduction of 75 Bharatiya games in schools including ‘Gilli Danda’, ‘Kabbadi’, ‘Posham pa’, and ‘Kanche’ under the Education Ministry’s initiative titled Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS).

Several games from different states have been listed to be incorporated in schools across India. Talking about this initiative, Ganti S Murthy, national coordinator, IKS stated, “The idea is not just to promote Indian games in schools but to make sports more inclusive. For instance, the schools in rural areas don’t have infrastructure for popular school games like basketball or badminton. Why should we restrict their participation? Most of these games are less resource intensive and encourage creativity, camaraderie and connect with the culture.”

Seasonally appropriate Indian games will now be introduced in schools through physical training teachers. On uploading pictures and short videos of the games, the best performing schools and PT teachers will be recognised with certificates, the officials said.