(Download) NCERT Revised syllabus Of Health And Physical Education (Class 1 to 10 )

Introduction

It is well acknowledged that health is a multidimensional concept and is shaped by biological, physical, psychological, social, economic, cultural and political factors. Access to basic needs like food, safe water supply, housing, sanitation and health services influences the health status of a population and these are reflected through mortality, morbidity and nutritional indicators. An analysis of the mortality and nutritional indicators from the pre-school, primary, secondary and senior secondary levels show that under -nutrition and communicable diseases are the major health problems faced by majority of the children in this country. Therefore health is a critical input for the overall development of the child since it influences significantly enrolment, retention and completion of school. This subject area adopts a holistic definition of health within which physical education and yoga contribute to the physical, social, emotional and mental aspects of a child’s development. The basic understanding is that health of children contributes to their healthy living in the future and also provides the base for performance in the chosen area of work.

The curriculum design for this area addresses the health and physical fitness needs of children at different levels of schooling with special attention to vulnerable social
groups and girl children. It is proposed that the mid day meal programme and health check ups must be a part of this subject and health and physical education must be related to the needs of the children and also address the age specific concerns at different stages of development. The idea of a comprehensive school health programme was conceived of in the 1940’s that included six major components viz. medical care, hygienic school environment, and school lunch, health, yoga and physical education. But unfortunately the implementation of this comprehensive approach was extremely weak that resulted in its transaction in a fragmented manner that lacked a holistic or comprehensive approach. As a result the subject of health and physical education is being dealt with separately  and the curriculum is being transacted conventionally with little knowledge that all the three areas are integral to achieving holistic health.

Given the interdisciplinary nature of this subject there are cross cutting themes across subjects. Therefore there is a need for cross-curricular planning and also integrating it with socially useful productive work, National Service Scheme, Bharat Scouts and Guides and the like. This subject lends itself for applied learning and innovative approaches can be adopted for transacting the curriculum. Physical education inclusive of yoga, have to be a regular part of the school’s timetable and must be seen as an important contribution for the overall development of the child. This would require flexibility in the school calendar and also in the structuring of school timetable in terms of the time and space allotted for integration of this subject area.

The importance of this subject to the overall development needs to be reinforced at the policy level, with administrators, other subject teachers in schools, the public health department, parents and children. There are several ways in which this can be done and would include the recognition of the subject as compulsory in the curriculum, that the required infrastructure and human resources are in place, that there is adequate teacher preparation and also in-service training, that there is interface between the school, health department and the community. Although the subject is compulsory till class X, it is not given its due importance. It has been suggested that it be treated as a core subject and students who wish to opt for it as one of the core subjects in lieu of another subject may be allowed to do so. This subject should be offered as an elective subject at the plus two level.

The curriculum and syllabus for this subject has to adopt a ‘need based’ approach to a child’s development. This is the framework that will guide the inclusion of physical, psycho-social and mental aspects that need to be addressed at different levels of schooling. A basic understanding of the concerns need to be delineated but this subject has an applied dimension that needs strengthening through experiential learning, acquiring skills to recognize and cope with demands, expectations and responsibilities of  daily living, the collective responsibilities for health and community living also need to be emphasized.

During the last two decades several National health programmes like the Reproductive and Child Health, HIV/AIDs; Tuberculosis and Mental Health have been emphasizing on health education and children are viewed as a potential ‘target group’ for preventive and promotive activities. The concern with this approach is that the focus is on giving information and each of these programmes are independent of one another. This creates demands on the teachers and children to deal with each of these concerns and they are not integrated into the existing curriculum.

This subject offers enormous potential for the adoption of innovative strategies and the experiences of quasi government programmes and several NGOs across the
country who have worked with schools on issues relating to health and physical education needs to reviewed, assessed and integrated into curriculum planning, development of syllabi and pedagogy. The evaluation of this subject needs plurality of strategies, which should be a part of continuous and comprehensive evaluation.

Aim:

To provide the required theoretical and practical inputs in order to provide an integrated and holistic understanding and developing positive attitudes, values, skills and behaviour related to health and physical education at the primary, secondary and senior secondary levels.

 Specific objectives:

1. To help children know and accept individual and collective responsibility for healthy living at home, school and in the community.

2. To help children know their health status, identify health problems and be informed for taking appropriate remedial measures.

3. To create awareness among children about rules of safety in appropriate hazardous situations to avoid accidents and injuries. To acquaint them with first-aidmeasures about common sickness and injuries.

4. To help children learn correct postural habits in standing, walking, running, sitting and other basic movements so as to avoid postural defects and physical deformities.

5. To help children improve their neuromuscular coordination through participation in a variety of physical activities in order to physical fitness.

6. To help children strive for excellence in games and sports.

7. To provide skills for dealing with psycho-social issues in the school, home and the community

8. To help children grow as responsible citizens by inculcating in them certain social and moral values through games, sports, N.C.C., Red Cross, Scouts & Guides etc.

9. To inculcate values and skills in children in order to promote self-control, concentration, peace and relaxation to avoid the ill effects of stress, strain and fatigue of routine everyday life.

10. To address the physical, psycho-social needs of differently abled children in an integrated fashion.

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