At the initiative of the National Sports Council (NSC), the Higher Secondary Education Board (HSEB) is all set to introduce Sports Science and Sports Education as a new subject for +2 students.
The Subject Committee at HSEB has already approved the new curriculum for grades XI and XII and the HSEB board and the Ministry of Education are in the process of giving their final approval.
"All the academic steps for introducing the subject have been completed and only some administrative and formal procedures remain," said Ram Chandra Pandey, chief of Curriculum and Training Division at HSEB.
"We are almost sure to introduce the subject in grade XI from the upcoming academic year," he added.
The sports curriculum for class XI with 100 full marks includes course content such as Sports Sociology, Finance, Sports Economics and Marketing, Sports Management, Sports and Media, Sports Policies, and International Sports Laws, as well as sports education about football, basketball, volleyball, cricket, taekwondo and karate.
Likewise, the class XII course includes content such as Sports Biomechanics and Kinesiology, Sports Anthropometry, Sports Psychology, Sports Medicine and Physiology, Sports Training Science, Disabled Sports Science, Measurement and Evaluation in Sports, and Statistics in Sports, as well as sports education about athletics, gymnastics, table tennis, judo, swimming and badminton.
"The subject will be elective and non-creditable for science students. It would be creditable for other streams," said Pandey.
"We have developed the curriculum focusing more on the practical aspects," he added.
According to Pandey, HSEB has given priority to the curriculum development as NSC showed interest in the academic development of sports.
"NSC has agreed with us to make its infrastructure available to higher secondary schools for running practical classes, and some schools in the Valley have such infrastructure in their own premises," said Pandey. "Every school should assure HSEB of possessing such infrastructure or having permission to use NSC infrastructure, before applying to run the now course," he added.
However, the infrastructure issue could be the main hurdle in running the course and NSC Member Secretary Yuvaraj Lama also accepts this. "It is a challenge but we cannot remain quite, just citing challenges. We are hopeful of settling such issues in future," said Lama.
NSC had formed a taskforce to assist HSEB in developing the curriculum some six months ago.
"The current leadership at NSC has reached a conclusion that we cannot develop sports without establishing its foundation at the school and college level. NSC´s initiative in developing the curriculum is an initial step in that direction," said Lama.
NSC has formed another taskforce under Lama to initiate the introducing of Sports Science as a new subject at bachelor´s level. "We are discussing with Tribhuwan University about the possibilities of either establishing a sports faculty or introducing Sports Science as a new subject," said Kul Bahadur Thapa, chief of School Sports Development Department at NSC.
Member-Secretary Lama cited the success stories of the Nippon Sports University, Korea National Sports University and the sports faculty at Leipzig University, and claimed that NSC has long been aiming for something similar.
"Our ultimate aim is to establish a Sports University and sports colleges in the country," he said. "We aim to develop trained and academically sound manpower for the sustainable development of sports," he added.
(Source: Republica National daily, by Nabin Khatiwada)
