JAIPUR: State education department will organise a district-level sports competition from October 20. At a time when all cultural events and group activities including sports are prohibited in school premises owing to the pandemic, the department has announced plans to organise the competition.
Students from classes VI to XII will be able to participate in the competition.
There are around 10 sports including tennis, volleyball, basketball, wrestling, cricket, that will be part of the event.
During the pandemic, when schools were opened after detailed discussions with education experts, such a competition has raised many eyebrows.
Ram Chandra Pilaniya, district education officer at Jaipur said, “We will conduct the sports event following Covid protocol set by the government and will not allow gatherings or crowds in any event. It will be a safe event.”
As per the Covid guidelines published before the schools reopened, the government specifically mentioned that students will have lunch in classrooms, no prayers, sports or cultural events will be allowed on the campus.
Students will sit at a distance from each other with only 50% students being allowed at a time.
Damodar Goyal, president of Society for Unaided Private Schools said, “We are not allowed to open playgrounds since the pandemic started. We cannot organise any sports activity or cultural event. I agree that now the danger has come down, so the government should allow us to conduct sports in the schools as well.”
More than 10 lakh students are studying in schools at present.
Without any clarity on whether the third wave will strike, parents have also expressed concern over the danger inherent in organising such an event at this time.