JOIN USCM plans to introduce Yoga in syllabus
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Sunday that the State government would contemplate on adding Yoga as an optional subject in the school and college syllabus.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Yoga day programme in front of Vidhana Soudha, the chief minister said, “Yoga is a stress-buster and has the ability to improve a person’s physical and mental health. It is a natural treatment and is apt to be practised by people of all ages. It should be practised at least for an hour to get optimum health benefits. Health issues can be overcome if one does Yoga from an young age. In view of this, we are thinking about introducing school children to Yoga”.
The chief minister said that the Ayush department had already trained 12,000 teachers in Yoga. He said that there are graduate courses in Yoga in Mysuru and there are plans to introduce masters degree courses too.
“There is a special connect between Karnataka and Yoga. B K S Iyengar, Pattabhi Jois from Mysuru and other gurus have put Yoga on the world map,” said Siddaramaiah. Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers Ananth Kumar, who was also present, praised the chief minister for planning to include Yoga in the school syllabus.
Health Minister U T Khader, Higher Education Minister R V Deshpande, Kannada and Culture Minister Umashree among others were present. Most of them, however, did not take part in the Yoga demonstrations. They preferred to watch the Yoga demonstrations by NCC cadets from the dais.