A Study of the Levels of Sports Participation In Schools

Modern age is the age of machinery. Every walk of life is covered by automatic machines and instruments. So, Men have to do very little physical work. It is the bio- logical principle that if any organ of body is not used then the growth and development of that organ is ceased. Many scholars have stated that of mental growth remains the same but the care is not given for physical health. The day is not far away when the existence of body will be in the form of mind only. Roussean also used to believe that body should be strong enough so that it can obey the orders of mind. Sports, games and other physical activities improve the mascular strength, mascular growth , size and vascularization , improve the circulatory system , respiratory system , excretory system etc. and thus , make the body strong. Moreover, the goal of socialization of individuals can also be achieved through games and sports. Role of physical education in promoting national integration is also important. Interest in games and sports among the students should be developed at school level because good health , good habits begin from the childhood is like clay and one can make the model what he wants from it. It is the time when students have maximum energy, leisure time and maximum capacity to gain. At this juncture , we can mould the students through sports towards the socialization. Today, we are the second largest population in our country but our performance in games and sports at world level is not satisfactory. In fact, it is the defect in our administrative system. Facilities are not provided at the school level. The present paper is to examine what are the factors at school level which are responsible for backwardness of sports activities at root-level. The required data has been collected from the offices of 48 Senior Secondary schools of Kurukshetra district. List of all Senior Secondary schools was taken from D.E.O. office and then these were classified in 6 states. Then sample required were taken i.e. stratified sampling has been used. The main reason behind the selection of stratified type of sampling is that the Senior Secondary schools of the studies area differ a lot in the administration , management and environment. So considering all these aspects, schools have been divided into strates and then from each strata samples were taken with the help of lottery system. Here, difficult statistical techniques have not been used but the analysis has been done with the help of total number of participants in each strata. Percentages and co-efficient of co-relation have been calculated.

Garret , E.(1981) observed that acknowledged that the physical fitness is a complex phenomenon consisting of various factors such as speed, strength, flexibility, agility, cardiovascular endurance etc. Gupta , S. P.(1987) explained that physical traits which are considered for sportspersons are strength, power, speed, agility, co-ordination, muscular endurance, reaction-time, cardiovascular respiratory endurance, and flexibility. Mall (1982), stated that the components of physical fitness like strength, speed, endurance (and their complex form) flexibility and the various co-ordinative abilities are essential for a high technique and tactical efficiency. Depending upon the demand of the game, each factor of physical fitness should be optimally developed. To improve the physical fitness and performance in games and sports at national and international levels, our physical education programs should put greater emphasis on all-round development of school children. All those countries which have won medals in sports at international level have made special programs of physical fitness for school children. improve the physical fitness and performance. The main reason of poor performance at international level sports is the poor physical fitness. In our country, most of the sportsmen belong to government schools and to rural areas.

It is evident from the Table – I that Private Senior Secondary Schools (Category I) are at the leading position as regards to total number of participants at block level followed by Government Senior Secondary Schools of Urban and Government Senior Secondary Schools of rural areas. But , if we look at the leading position followed by Government Senior Secondary Schools (Urban) and Private Senior Secondary Schools (Category I) respectively. Participation of Private schools (Category I) is negligible. significantly. Private Senior Secondary School (Category I) are at leading positions in sports , almost at all levels.

From the Table – 3 , it can be found that number of physical education teachers in 6 Private Senior Secondary schools (Cat. I) is 15. It is 12 and 13 in 6 Govt. Senior Secondary School ( Urban) and 9 Govt. Senior Secondary School ( Rural) respectively. This number is 04 in 12 Private Senior Secondary School (

When the co-relation was calculated between availability of play-ground area (independent variable) and number of participants in sports (dependent variable) , it was found that there exists a high degree positive co-relation . Value of co-efficient of determination was also found out to see how much change in independent variable and how much change in dependent variable is not due to change in independent variable i.e. unexpected variance.

From Table – 5 , it can be seen that co-relation is positive and high degree. At block level, it is becoming low at higher levels. Co-relation has also been established between number of physical education teachers in the schools Co-efficient of determination is also calculated to know about the explained variance. Unexpected variance is 19% at block level, 15% at district level and 47% at state level.

1. There is found a significant difference in the level of sports Participation :- A) Between Govt. Senior Secondary Schools of rural areas and Govt. Senior Secondary Schools of urban areas . B) Between Govt. Senior Secondary Schools (Rural) and Private Senior Secondary Schools (Category I) . C) Between Govt. Senior Secondary Schools (Urban) and Private Senior Secondary Schools (Category- I) . D) Between Boys Senior Secondary Schools and Girls Senior Secondary Schools. E) Between Govt. Senior Secondary Schools (Rural) and Private Senior Secondary Schools (Category II) of rural areas. F) Between Private Senior Secondary Schools (Category - I) and Private Senior Secondary Schools (Category II) of urban areas. G) Between Private Senior Secondary Schools (Category - I) and Private Senior Secondary Schools (Category II) of rural areas. 2) Private Senior Secondary Schools (Category - I) are at leading position in sports Participation followed by Govt. Senior Secondary Schools (Urban) , Govt. Senior Secondary Schools (rural) , Private Senior Secondary Schools (category - II) of Urban areas and Private Senior Secondary Schools (category - II) of rural areas respectively. II) in the sports.

The study has its education implications for governing authorities , Managements and organizations it is helpful in reviewing of their plans for sports activities in different schools. The results obtained from the study are very important particularly for those institutions which are very Backward in sports participation. The institutions which are very Backward in sports are Private Senior Secondary School (cate. - II) of both rural and Urban areas D.E.O.’s who make registration of such schools should examine; how many area, the schools have , to develop the sector of sports in the schools because in the modern age are very important for Physical fitness , National integration and socialization of and individual.

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1. Name of the school………………………………………………………………………. 3. Total no. of students participated in sports activities in the year………………………… were……………………………………………………….. 4. No. of students participated in different sports at various levels:- 5. Total area occupied for Playgrounds. 6. No. of Physical Education Teachers. 7. Any other information.