The Union Ministry of Education, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and UNESCO have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to promote clean sport and ethical values among school students through classroom learning and everyday activities.
The agreement was exchanged on October 28 at the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) India’s Clean Sport Conclave in New Delhi. Union Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Education Minister Pralhad Joshi and Tim Curtis, director of UNESCO’s Regional Office for South Asia, attended the event.
The initiative will be implemented through the Sports Values in Every Classroom Toolkit, which aims to teach children values such as fairness, respect and integrity through sports-related educational material and classroom activities. Its video modules will be available in 13 Indian languages to expand access across the country.
Ministers stress link between education and sports
Mandaviya said sporting achievement must be accompanied by ethical conduct.
“Sporting excellence and sporting integrity must go hand in hand,” he said, adding that talent, discipline and hard work must be matched by integrity, fairness and credibility.
He also highlighted the need to strengthen awareness of clean sport as India expands its sporting ambitions. According to the ministry, NADA conducted more than 7,000 tests and over 350 education and awareness sessions during 2025-26, reaching approximately 27,000 participants.
Joshi said the agreement would help address the longstanding gap between education and sports. He noted that academic achievement does not always translate into participation in sports and called for stronger opportunities at the grassroots level.
“This MoU is an important step towards strengthening the connection between education and sports, which has been missing for a long time,” Joshi said. He added that sports values should become part of every child's educational experience.
UNESCO toolkit focuses on everyday behaviour
Curtis said the initiative could reach millions of young people and offer a model for other countries.
“Every child in the classroom can learn what it means to play by the rules,” he said, identifying respect, integrity and fairness as the three fundamental values at the centre of the toolkit.
He also stressed the role of teachers in translating these principles into practice. The aim, he said, is to encourage fair behaviour in everyday situations, including how children treat one another in the playground.
The initiative builds on UNESCO's wider work to use sports as a way to promote inclusion, empathy and cooperation in schools. An earlier pilot in government schools across Delhi-NCR tested 20 video modules in 2024. UNESCO's reporting on the pilot said teachers and students used the activities to discuss fairness, mutual understanding and the application of rules in daily life.
Clean sport and the fight against doping
The classroom initiative also comes against the backdrop of India's efforts to strengthen anti-doping education and enforcement.
Mandaviya said supplement-testing facilities at the National Forensic Sciences University in Gandhinagar and the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research in Hyderabad would help prevent inadvertent doping cases. He also said NADA investigations would be strengthened in line with international practices.
The government has brought the National Anti-Doping Act into force this year and is preparing provisions concerning the criminalisation of doping-related activities for consideration by Parliament, the minister said.
The three-way partnership links anti-doping awareness with school education, with the stated aim of introducing ethical sporting practices before children enter competitive sport.