Equity through sports - challenges and the way forward

One of the objectives of sports education in India is to provide skills for dealing with psycho-social issues in the school, home and the community. What does this mean? Sports could influence personal and social competencies such as self-confidence, self-discipline, body awareness, accepting rules, fairness, dealing with emotions, learning mutual respect, winning, losing, teamwork and communicative skills. Thus sports plays an important role as a socialization mechanism and for teaching values of the society. It helps build certain social skills. The former UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, says sports is a universal language that can bring people together, support the work for peace and help to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Sports has this capacity to transcend boundaries. Can it then play a role to bridge class, caste, gender and bring inclusiveness in India