While Chief Minister Siddaramaiah mooted yoga as an optional subject in educational institutions, Education Department officials point out that there is severe shortage of physical education teachers in schools and say that implementing it would be a challenge.
Many schools across the State particularly the ones in rural areas do not have physical education teachers. Only 11,447 of the 26,953 government higher primary and high schools and 4,046 of the 5,148 aided schools have physical education teachers. In private schools also the number of those teachers is small with only 9,638 of the 17,114 schools having physical education teachers.
Education Department officials also point out that the existing teachers would require elaborate training in yoga if they have to impart it as an additional subject for students. Currently the department has only 38 yoga experts across the State works as master trainers. In State board schools, physical education is a mandatory examination subject between classes six and 10 and yoga is one of the modules.
