The pandemic has contributed heavily to the lack basic fitness for today’s children resulting in an alarming increase in obesity & diabetes rates among them.

Shreyosi Chakraborty

At a time, when people are running from pillar to the post to earn their means of sustenance, when specialized professionals are seeking parallel and alternate ways to augment their income potential – the story of Praveen Kumar Mishra, a postgraduate teacher in Physical Education from Swaminarayan Vidyapith (residential school) in Gujarat’s Anand stands out. This teacher not only left the job of a director to return to his “chosen field” and follow his passion, but also recently made himself and his school proud after being recently felicitated by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) for Excellence in Teaching & School Leadership 2020-21.

Praveen Kumar Mishra began his teaching journey in 2004 and is an experienced Physical Education teacher, who is equally adept in training specially-abled children in Handball, Volley Ball, Athletics and Badminton shares his experiences which truly deserves accolades and appreciation.

In a candid conversation with EducationWorld, Mishra focuses on the grey areas of Indian Physical Education curriculum and the urgent need for a total upheaval of the same resulting in the implementation of a totally new curriculum structure.

Q: Congratulations on the felicitation from the CBSE Board. According to you, what do you think is lacking in this generation’s students?

Thank You. Unfortunately, children of this generation lack basic fitness. What is more alarming is that they are victims of obesity, back pain and diabetes at a surprising age of seven or eight.

Even though the CBSE’s curriculum has implemented the Khelo India Programme which helps to revive the sports culture in India at the grass-root level by building a strong framework for all sports played in our country with a vision of establishing India as a great sporting nation, yet only a fraction of the students take part in the tournaments.

Q: Physical Education is not something that can be taught online. How did you continue your classes during the pandemic?

My first challenge was to learn even before I could teach the students. I included presentations and excel sheets for a better understanding. Lastly, I shared YouTube links correlating with the theories alongside my own videos.

Q: If given a chance, what change would you want to bring to the curriculum?

Physical Education should be made a compulsory subject and should receive the same importance and weightage as any other theoretical academic subjects like Mathematics or Geography. Countries like China, Russia and the United States of America train students from an early age. They have several types of equipment for Physical Education which are also divided according to curriculum-based training and age-based training.

It is also important that we start nurturing the plant at the nascent stages – training the children from an early age. For example, if we are preparing for the Olympics, the extensive training sessions do not begin with more than a year in advance. Instead, this should be a continuous evolutionary process that would mandate regimented structure-based preparations from the very first year.

Another important thing that I would like to implement a central training institute. If the training sessions are school-centric, localised and suddenly the student leaves the school, his/her training comes to a standstill. Sometimes, they also lose track and stop getting trained from a different school because they were comfortable in the previous one. Hence, it is better for students to join one central academy for this training. School-level training will always be there on a regular basis but a central academy should also be created to ensure continuity for the ones who seek excellence in sports.

Q: What do you think is your key to success? It would be great if you can share a sneak-peek of your daily routine?

The key to success is a regimented lifestyle. For basic fitness, I go jogging along with my students daily at 5.30 a.m. and continue for an hour. After this, I have my breakfast and head towards my classes. During the evening hours, I train my students for another hour.

Q: What is the current response that you are getting given that we have flattened the curve of the pandemic? Are the students back from their homes?

Yes. There has been a substantial rise in the number of students. Around 80 percent are back from their homes

Also Read: 1,000 physical education teachers in Delhi govt schools to undergo ‘physical literacy’ training