The Gujarat government is currently planning for the state to host the Olympic Games, Gujarat Sports Minister Harsh Sanghvi has also formed a task force for this. On the other hand, the Union Ministry of Education has admitted in the Lok Sabha that more than 5,500 schools in Gujarat do not have sports grounds. While 288 posts of Physical Training (PT) teachers are also vacant in government schools, not only that, the government has admitted in the Lok Sabha that 21 schools in Gujarat do not even have the facility of electricity, stated a report in The New Indian Express.
Kalaben Delkar, a member of parliament for Dadra Nagar Haveli in the Union Territory, questioned the Education Minister in the Lok Sabha about the same. "Almost half of the Government schools in various rural areas of the country lack electricity or playgrounds; if so, the details, state-by-state, as well as the reasons for this are provided"
In response, Education Ministry tabled data in the Lok Sabha, according to that data, "There are 34,699 government schools in Gujarat as of 2021-22, with only 29,198 having playgrounds or playground facilities, and 5,501 government schools lacking playgrounds."
According to Lok Sabha data, the Ministry of Education reported that 34,678 of the 34,699 government schools in Gujarat have electricity, while 21 do not. Also, 288 positions for PT teachers are currently vacant in government and grant-aided schools in Gujarat, according to the government of Gujarat's data.
These figures from the Lok Sabha only include government schools; the number of private schools that do not have a playground is huge.
According to a private survey, 5,500 of the state's 8,000 private primary schools do not have playgrounds. While 14 thousand schools out of 21 thousand lack any kind of ground. Whereas in Gujarat, strict rules were enacted by the government in 2018 to ensure that no school in the state of Gujarat is permitted to operate without a playground.
Dr Subhan Saiyed, Director of Physical Education of NM Zhala College says, "Ground is required in government schools because poor and middle-class students attend it. Their boys want to advance in sports but do not receive any encouragement because the school does not have a pitch, and their families cannot afford the cost of teaching sports. If the government truly wishes to send the people of Gujarat to the Olympics, it should first address basic needs such as the ground."
Saiyed questioned the Gujarat government's sports policy, saying, "Gujarat government talks about Olympics but they are zero in promotion of spots, recruitment of PT teachers in Gujarat government schools has not been done in the last fifteen years, even if there is a ground, who will teach them without a teacher there?"
