With the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) making it mandatory to have one period for health and physical education in schools affiliated to it, several Bengaluru-based school managements have increased their fees for the 2018-2019 academic year in order to improve the sports infrastructure.
The CBSE in April had advised schools to reserve one period a day for physical education, particularly for students between classes nine and 12. Following this, several schools are scrambling to hire more physical education teachers and are also investing in sports infrastructure. The burden of the extra cost incurred by the school is being passed on to parents who are looking at a fee hike of anywhere between 2% and 5% for the 2018-19 academic year. This is in addition to the 5-10% hike in fees imposed by the managements every year.
Some schools have chosen to attribute the hike to their investment in physical education teachers and infrastructure. Others, however, have simply hiked their annual fees without specifying the breakup.
Schools are not only grappling with costs but also with time management. Timetables have been tweaked to ensure that one period is allocated to sports every day. Others have extended school timings to accommodate this change.
Dakshayini Kanna, principal of Harvest International School, said that the programmes are being more structured and they are including dance, yoga and aerobic exercises as well. “For higher grades from classes nine to 12, we are extending school timings from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. so that there is adequate time for physical education,” she said.
Mansoor Ali Khan, member, board of management, Delhi Public Group of Schools, said that each of their schools on an average have 22 physical educators and offer over 10 different sports. “Despite the good sports infrastructure we have, we will hire at least another four teachers per school, as there is a need to have a sports period every day,” he said.
M. Srinivasan, president of the Managements of Independent CBSE Schools Association, said that although schools may hike the fees, parents will not mind bearing the cost if it adds value to their child’s education and there is visible improvement in sports facilities.
