Mr. Wasim Khan is a sports teacher at Aaryan World School, Pune and he talks about the status of physical education and training in schools. He has been working as a Physical Education teacher for the past one year at Aaryan World School. Wasim Khan is a national athlete in hurdles race and he sheds light on the current status of physical education training in schools and its importance.
Background
“I was born into a sports family. I was always interested in sports just like my family. My father, mother and sister are athletes, which naturally drew me to sports and games.” He has won junior championship in hurdles game in his school and he is also a gold winning national athlete in 110m hurdles race. After his schooling, he completed his B.Ed from Agashe College, Pune and he completed his Masters course in Physical Education from the same college. Later, he joined Erin Agarwala School, Kalyani Nagar and worked there for two years before joining Aaryan School.
Sports Activities and School Infrastructure
Wasim Khan stated that the infrastructure at Aaryan World School facilitates proper training for the students. He said “The school has currently employed three physical education teachers who have excellent experience in training students in various sports activities”. When asked about the sports games and activities offered at school, he said “Various games such as cricket, athletics, football, basketball, volleyball, handball, hockey and swimming courses are now offered.
Student Interest in Sports
When he was asked about the interest level of students in playing games, Wasim said, “I see more interest among boys. While the boys showed interest in various sports and games, most of the girls showed interest in basketball. The girls don’t show adequate interest in sports and games”. He said that among the students who approach him for sports training, 80% of the students are boys and the remaining 20% are girls. He added that the boys showed more interest in football and cricket more than any other game.
Sports Schedule
“Instead of making the students choose any one sport or game, the school has devised a schedule for the physical education elective classes. Students are required to attend physical training classes twice a week. The syllabus is designed in such a way that more emphasis is given on fitness and various games are introduced during the elective classes”. The fitness training is mandatory for all students where they undergo various drills to improve agility, speed, strength, endurance, power and coordination balance.
Mr. Wasim Khan said that the school makes an effort to train the students in their choice of sport so that they can go on to make a career out of it. Intensive sports training and coaching classes are conducted in the morning everyday from 8am to 10am. He said, “The school has plans to recruit specialized trainers and coaches to train the students in the evenings too”.
When asked about his training during his school time, Mr. Wasim Khan said “There was no logical training in those days. I had to do 10 rounds to warmup and then continue to do 10 hurdles”. This program continued until he met with an injury. Then, he would take 4 months or 6 months off to recuperate from the injury and then, go on with the training until the next injury. He feels that lack of scientific approach led to several injuries at a much younger age.
Mr. Wasim Khan expressed his concern about the lack of scientific approach in modern day physical training. He suggested “The schools must consider the academic knowledge of physical education teachers so that better training is provided for students”.
Contact info:
http://www.aaryansworldschool.com/
khanwasim828@gmail.com/Mob: 09096519460