RONO HILLS, Aug 17: The physical education department of Rajiv Gandhi University (RGU) here launched a virtual five-day faculty development programme (FDP) on the theme ‘Health interventions for fit and prosperous India’ on Monday.
Altogether 221 participants registered for the FDP on the first day.
Attending the webinar, MoS for Youth Affairs & Sports Kiren Rijiju explained how “negatively skewed health indicators are the reflection of the poor health of the citizens.” He said he believed that “only fitness” would lead the nation to economic prosperity and aid in “psycho-physiological and socio-emotional wellbeing of citizens.”
He expressed appreciation for the HRD ministry for treating physical education and sports as one of the core subjects and doing away with the earlier practice of treating physical education as a co-curricular item in the new education policy.
Rijiju expressed regret that despite the hard work put in by Indian sportspersons, India is lagging behind in the medal tally because “the players are not getting scientific support to enhance their performance and overcome their technical errors.”
“In this respect, the ministry is working on developing scientific support for sportspersons, and the centre of excellence at RGU and the Manipur Sports University will play a pivotal role in the process,” he said.
RGU Vice Chancellor, Prof Saket Kushwaha said he was hopeful that the FDP would enhance the “acceptability of sports science in society as a career.”
Prof Biswajit Basumatary spoke on the ‘Relevance of physical education and sports in new education policy’, and dwelt on the importance of sports not only for fitness but also for character development.
Prof BC Kapri spoke about fitness and the use of yoga to manage fitness by all categories of people.
