Delhi government plans to open India’s first sports school and university

• National capital Delhi will have ‘India’s first’ sports school and university.
  
• The sports university will offer undergraduate, post graduate and doctorate courses in cricket and hockey.
  
• A CBSE affiliated school focussed in sports will also be created.
  
• The degree focussed in sports will also make the players eligible for government jobs including civil services.

The Delhi cabinet gave a green light to establish ‘India’s first’ sports school and university. The higher education programme will offer full time courses in various sports to furnish sportspersons with literary skills.

The sports university will offer undergraduate, post graduate and doctorate courses in cricket, hockey and others. On the same lines, a CBSE affiliated school focussed in sports will also be created.

It will include six university schools undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and research.

“Earlier, a sportsperson used to be uncertain about his future, just for the fact that if he is not able to establish a career in sports, he will just be called a school pass out. He would not get a job because every job requires at least a graduation degree to get through,” Arwind Kejriwal, Chief Minister of Delhi told The Hindu.

The degree focussed in sports will also make the players eligible for government jobs including civil services.

The process of the development of curriculum and subjects is underway. “Now, the curriculum has to be fixed. Experts will be roped in,” said Kejriwal without announcing a timeline.

“It is a matter of disappointment that many students who have played sports at the national-level are nowhere on the same platform as students who can give their IAS examinations because they have a graduation degree. The share of jobs under sports quota is also limited. We are hoping to eradicate that uncertainty from the minds of sportspersons,” said Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.

The proposed state university was approved by the cabinet under the ‘Delhi Sports University Bill’ and is awaiting Lt. Governor Anil Baijal’s nod. Once approved, the bill will have to be passed in the Assembly.

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