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One of Delhi University’s most elite colleges recently debarred a certain 19-year old from sitting in his semester exams citing low attendance, which was supposedly less than even what Rahul Gandhi has on an average in the Lok Sabha. Seems reasonable enough, for the college in question is the country’s single highest producer of bureaucrats and politicians (in short, bearers of professions that matter in our country) and academic standards here are understandably stringent. Our youngster wasn’t quite amused though; he had just come back from Australia after leading the Under-19 Indian National Cricket Team to a victory in the World Cup. But then, colleges in India mean business and academics are not something to be compromised on. Games and sport, after all, are merely activities of recreation— strictly to be practised only during the break between school and tuitions. Maybe, that explains why we perpetually manage the distinction of the lowest medal to-population ratio in the Olympics.
Though Unmukt Chand—the flamboyant captain of the Under-19 team—did manage to get the decision overturned in his favour after the sports ministry decided to intervene, his case is more of an exception than a trendsetter. He plays cricket—a sport that enjoys ‘legitimacy’ in the mainstream culture of the country and is keenly followed by a lot of people. What is more of a true reflection of the times are the countless instances of sporting brilliance fading away in a country whose academic system has little place for sports and related activities in a curriculum thriving on cram-culture.
Demographic projections predict that India shall overtake China in terms of population by 2025. So going by that bit of forecast, the population of the two countries will be at par in 2024 – the year, which will witness the 33rd Olympics. However, India’s chances to replicate the same growth in the medals tally in the Olympics are sadly as remote as of ours hosting the event. And sadly, it’s a truth we all accept and take lying down. The much-needed and long overdue dissection of the situation doesn’t seem to be happening for some obscure reason. Jubilating over high teas and inconsequential award-ceremonies to fete our medal-winners and then completely forgetting them until the next major event is easier of course, but ominous to any real development of sports in the country. As Hindu’s sports editor Nirmal Shekar rightly points out in a scathing piece- We don’t care about them for three years and eleven-and-a-half months. We don’t care about their impecunious circumstances, their heroic struggles, their fight against-the-odds and battles with cynical, self-serving sports administrators heading often corrupt sports bodies.
Hard-hitting as it may seem, Shekar has hit the bull’s eye with his analysis of the unabashed apathy that we display towards our Olympians and sports-persons in general. One has to start early in the world of sports and that’s a truth that even someone not very well versed with the intricacies of the world of games and sports will readily agree. That points towards the need for a robust sport policy in schools and colleges, but the current curriculum, forget promoting sport, throttles it at all levels. A chocking academic calendar that leaves little time to pursue sport is undoubtedly, to a large extent, culpable for our present pathetic state of affairs. While countries like China and Australia boast of full-fledged sports academies that seek to catch talent young and hence give them the maximum time and resources to maximise their potential, the absence of such set-ups in India is baffling and is a grim reminder of our unhealthy and short-sighted policies when it comes to games and sport. It is high time that authorities acknowledged that a mere 40 minutes-a-week earmarked in the curriculum of most of our schools is taking us nowhere. Only a handful of silvers and bronzes in the Olympics is not only demeaning for the country, but is more importantly a gross wastage of talent that hangs about listlessly in the country only because they didn’t receive those right words and actions of encouragement. Encouragement to pursue sport as a career that is equally respectable and well-paying as a bureaucrat or an engineer.
The fact that Amitabh Bachchan referred to Mary Kom as Naga is not only indicative of mainland India’s ignorance about the dynamics of North-East India but is also telling of how the Indian psyche is programmed to treat sports-persons as just pursuers of mere recreational activities. And the result is for all of us to see and be embarrassed about: The only sport that our country can claim dominance of any significant measure is played by hardly 10 nations of the world and if that is not reason enough, the fact that we finished at the bottom in the recently concluded Olympics in our national sport has made the writing on the wall clearer than ever.
Understanding the cause of such disarray in the world of sports is not difficult once we deconstruct a few basic facts about our system. To begin with, parents find it incredibly difficult to encourage their wards to take up sports seriously; labeling it as impractical to attempt a full-fledged career out of it, considering the obnoxiously high level of ‘risk’ involved. Their concerns are valid and until better sense prevails and an overhaul of sorts of curriculum’s in schools and colleges is articulated soon, we’re doomed to let a lot of our talent go to the cleaners without ever getting to see them in their full bloom. Imbibing flexibility into the system to make sufficient room for sport-related activities is imperative to help our youngsters and parents develop confidence and believe in the viability of sports as a full time career option. I’ve personally seen great talent getting wasted just because there was simply no time to practise and hone skills by the virtue of being a part of a curriculum that is back-breaking by any standards. From there on, we must look at alternative arrangements of full-time sports academies to nurture and foster young talent into word-class athletes. Of course, all of that needs a change of mindset as a prerequisite; one that puts IIT cram schools and sports academies on an equal plane as far as respectability and social acceptance go.
Mindsets do not change overnight; it requires perseverance and patience of the highest order. And it’s time we made the effort—uphill as it may seem—immediately, before it’s too late. From refraining from chiding neighbourhood kids for making noise during a game of football to not looking down upon a school kid for not scoring a ninety percent as he enjoys shadow practicing more than memorising tables, a beginning has to be made. Who knows, the 2024 Olympics, we may just overtake China in the medals tally too!
