Even as Gujarat dreams big — pitching to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games and eyeing the 2036 Olympics — the ground reality tells a starkly different story with over 5,600 government schools in the state not having a playground for their students to run, play, or dream of sports.
This hard reality comes to fore at a time when India has submitted a bid to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games in Gujarat and is considering Ahmedabad for a potential bid for Olympics in 2036.
As per the state government’s data submitted in the Assembly session that concluded last month, 5,674 government schools in the state do not have playgrounds. Naturally then sporting activities remain on paper in these schools or are conducted in a small scale manner.
The Gujarat Government has been organising “Khel Mahakumb” every year in a bid to encourage sports activities and pick up the right talent. However, it seems to have forgotten the basic slogan of “Catch them young”.
In a state that has always been considered developed, the absence of playgrounds tell a telling tale, especially considering that the BJP has been in power for three decades and has been talking about overall development and growth.
Border district of Banaskantha tops the list of schools without playgrounds. It has 586 such schools, followed by tribal district Dahod (566), Bharuch (385) and Tapi (321).
The number of schools in other districts not having playgrounds are: Kutch (262), Surat (222), Valsad (244), Vadodara (110), Mahisagar (230) and tribal district of Chhotaudepur (247).
Gujarat Congress spokesperson Dr. Hiren Banker told Vibes of India that it is an irony that Gujarat has been bidding for big games when thousands of schools do not have basic infrastructure facilities like playgrounds. “One needs to think how many people from Gujarat will take part in the Olympics? The talent comes when infrastructure is provided,” he said, adding that the quality of education in Gujarat also remains far away from what is desired. Banker was quoting various reports of the recent past that have said much about the standard of education in Gujarat, especially government schools and primary sections.
However, Hitesh Patel, convenor of BJP’s Ahmedabad city and district unit, told Vibes of India that the government has been creating infrastructure. He gave the example of the newly inaugurated sports complex in Navrangpura.
As regards the schools not having playgrounds, he said that these schools had come up in the past and did not have playgrounds even then. He did agree that facilities like playgrounds should be kept in mind in future development.
According to Patel, even if the villages and small towns do not have facilities, there are facilities in each district where the talented sportspersons stay and learn. This, according to him, has seen an increasing number of youngsters shining in the field of sports.
He further added that times have changed and parents opt for private coaching. Well, but who will tell the authorities that this is only for the parents who can afford it?
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