January 9, 2020
State Govt reviving traditional games through school curriculum
Children are now more into watching cartoons on television and playing games on mobile phones. Outdoor games are often a forgotten chapter. Yet it is these outdoor games that help in creating well-rounded personalities. They are good not just for the body but for the mind too. More of mobile games and television is leading to conditions like childhood obesity.
In such a situation, the State Government has decided to take measures to popularise traditional and folk games of Bangla like kumirdanga, ekka-dokka, dariabanda and others. In this regard the State Education Department recently brought out a notification asking schools to include playing time after the first period and before lunch for pre-primary classes and classes I to V from the 2020-2021 academic session. The Board of Primary Education has taken the initiative to bring all these games back to school premises.
An important aspect about these games is that they are all team games. The department notification also mentions games which can be played by hearing impaired students together with the fully able ones.
Thus this approach by the State Government has three primary aims:
- Involve students in outdoor, physically-intensive games
- Bringing back traditional games and thus uphold the traditional culture of the State
- To inculcate among students the importance of teamwork, which would serve them well their entire lives.
Source: Aajkaal
