Serious Concern Raised In Parliament On The Acute Shortage Of Sports Coaches

The Parliamentary Standing Committee has expressed serious concern over the acute shortage of sports coaches in the country. In order to provide basic facilities like education to the players, the committee has recommended to open residential sports schools. Personal trainers have been behind the players who have succeeded in their sports in recent years.

In the Rajya Sabha, the Parliamentary Standing Committee of the Ministry of Human Resources presented its report on the ‘Khelo India’ scheme. The 31-member committee headed by Satyanarayan Jatia described in detail the efforts being made in the Games as inadequate. The committee also suggested measures to help domestic players shine globally. The committee headed by Jatia observed that basic facilities for sports in the country are not very satisfactory. For this, the committee has recommended encouraging the private sector in the sports infrastructure sector.

The committee says that the private sector can prove to be very favourable to enhance sports culture and its quality. To encourage sports, a public-private partnership (PPP) model has to be adopted. Private sports academy will have to be entrusted with the responsibility to increase the quality in the sports sector, better training and search for skilled players.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee has suggested the Sports Ministry to adopt Odisha’s sports model in other states. The state government of Odisha has joined hands with the corporate sector to set up 10 high-level badminton and shooting centers, which have started yielding excellent results.

Expressing concern over the acute shortage of sports coaches in the country, the committee said that out of the 1524 sanctioned posts, 544 coaches are currently running vacant and there is no hurry to fill these 36 percent posts, which is a serious matter. The committee has recommended filling these posts immediately.

The parliamentary committee has emphasized on the basic education of promising sportspersons. The report said that due to hard work and busyness in sports, their studies are badly affected, to avoid which it has been recommended to set up residential educational institutions with a sports complex. Many of the selected players are sometimes forced to leave the game due to lack of education.

In the year 2018-19, some players of international level had done well and excelled in many sports. The committee found that the credit for this was private effort and private coaches rather than government sports policy and government sports coaches. The committee has recommended the appointment of a good administrator or player for the success of a scheme like Khelo India, which can understand and solve the need of the game and the players.