Clearing the career track: Sports and education

In order to realise its full sports potential, India needs a comprehensive government-driven policy that integrates sports in the curriculum.

Badminton legend Pullela Gopichand recently sparked a nationwide debate by suggesting that children from financially weaker backgrounds should think twice before pursuing a career in sports. His statement struck a nerve. Some criticised his view, arguing that dreams should not be limited by wealth, while others, including former Indian cricket captain Anil Kumble, saw wisdom in his words.

Gopichand, who has played at the highest level and coached numerous athletes, has a ringside view of the struggles of sportspersons. Despite India's growing presence on the global sports stage, the country still lacks a structured ecosystem that guarantees a stable future for athletes who do not achieve international fame. For every elite player who finds success, countless others fade into obscurity. Those from affluent families have a safety net — education, family wealth or business connections. But for those who have staked everything on their athletic career, the road is much harsher, especially if they have "sacrificed" academics along the way.

Kumble, both an engineering graduate and a cricketing legend, has been a long-time advocate of integrating sports and education. To him, this is not just about giving athletes a fallback option — it is about making them more well-rounded and preparing them for life beyond their playing years.

Numerous studies back Kumble’s view, proving that sports and education do not compete — they complement each other. A joint report by the Education Above All Foundation’s Educate A Child programme and the international NGO, Save the Children, highlights the deep connection between academic excellence and athletic development.

“When children participate in sports and physical activities as part of their education, students are learning and integrating key life skills and attitudes related to teamwork, fair play, respect, cooperation and tolerance. These skills and attitudes provide the necessary foundation for greater academic achievement as well as social inclusion and social cohesion in local communities and the larger society,” the report says.

Yet, in India, most educational institutions — from kindergarten to university — continue to treat sports as an extra-curricular activity rather than an essential one. The perception that sport is a distraction rather than a strength is still deeply ingrained in the system. While this mindset is slowly changing, its widespread prevalence continues to hold the country back from fully tapping into its immense sporting potential.

Archana Vishwanath, a former international table tennis player and No. 1 in India, strongly advocates for early exposure to sports. According to her, it’s not just about producing champions — it’s about instilling discipline, resilience and a lifelong commitment to health.

“It is extremely important for us to inculcate the spirit of sports from a very early age,” explains Archana, who now works as the director at Jain Heritage School. “It is not just about churning out champions. When they (children) get into sports, there are so many life skills that they learn. At the end of the day, everybody cannot be a champion and play for Karnataka or India. But when sport becomes a part of your daily routine, there is so much discipline inculcated, and there are so many other life skills that get developed. Especially in an educational institution, it is very important that we make this complementary to each other,” she adds.

Private institutions with excellent sports infrastructure have made efforts to bridge the gap, but these efforts are barely a drop in the ocean for a country of 1.4 billion people. Without a comprehensive, government-driven sports policy, India will continue to lose promising young athletes. 

There is a visible push from the central government in recent years and some states have taken a proactive role in encouraging sports by developing infrastructure and providing incentives to medal winners at the various competitions. There's the Target Olympic Podium Scheme but it is for elite athletes. The ambitious Khelo India project needs to be managed more professionally. Something is being done, but a lot more has to be done, and in a more structured way.    

“We have many schemes under the Sports Authority of India or the Sports Authority of Karnataka,” Archana acknowledges. “All of that is there, but it just gets filtered out somewhere, and we lose out on talent. We have to go back again and spend so many years training youngsters, and so it becomes a cycle that keeps repeating. It is not serving the purpose.”

According to her, the solution lies in schools. Government and private schools alike must integrate sports deeply into their curriculum.

Former Karnataka education minister Basavaraj Horatti agrees that Physical Education is the most neglected aspect of education. "Educational institutions need to appoint Physical Education teachers and make sporting activities compulsory. But little has been done. There are over 100 PU colleges (government-run) in the state, but there are only 22 PE posts, of which only one has been filled at the moment," he says. The former minister worked as a physical education teacher before entering politics. He is currently the chairperson of the Legislative Council.

To explain how sports and education should work together, we can draw a simple analogy from cricket. When top-order batters build a strong foundation, it eases the pressure on the middle and lower order, allowing them to perform better more often than not. The same applies to education — if students are given a solid academic base while being encouraged to pursue sports, their development is more rounded.

“In my own case, on the field, in terms of pressure, in terms of handling external forces that enable you to go there and play, all of that was manageable because of the educational support I had,” Kumble shares. “Education is something we have always done exceptionally well. But when it comes to sport, it is still an extra-curricular activity. Unless we integrate these two, we are never going to be a sporting nation.”

M D Venkatesh, vice chancellor of Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), highlights another major issue — parental pressure. Many Indian parents see their child’s future in extreme, black-and-white terms.

“Look at the parental pressure,” he notes. “There are two extremes. One extreme is ‘I want my child to succeed as a sportsperson.’ They go all out, putting so much pressure on the kid. The other extreme is ‘I want my child to get into IIT or something like that.’ They do not let the child enjoy anything else other than hitting the books or going to coaching classes. That is when it gets problematic.”

“The coaching culture has really killed a large number of sportspersons,” Venkatesh says. 

“Therefore, the mindset change has to happen in parents too. A lot more dialogue should happen. How do we want to ensure the holistic development of a child? A child who does not play will perhaps not be a complete person by the time he grows. He will not be a good team player, he will not be able to handle winning and losing. A lot of internal changes happen when you get onto a sports field, which we often take for granted.”

Horatti also speaks of parental pressure. "As the students move higher up the grades, parents discourage them from sports. There is more emphasis on education. When you go to the grounds, you hardly see children playing. They are either glued to books or mobiles. A radical shift in mindset is needed from both parents and the government," he says.   

Slow progress 

Venkatesh does acknowledge that the government is making progress, but it is too little at the moment, though never too late.

“Public infrastructure in sports has to improve,” he states. “I think the government is on the right track, and more and more corporates are getting involved. But they are mostly involved at a slightly higher level. What we need is a broad-based, inverted funnel, where a large number of children get access to sports at a young age, and from there, more and more will gravitate toward becoming elite athletes and winning medals. It has to be a joint effort from everybody.”

Kumble, whose company Tenvic has teamed up with MAHE to not only inculcate sporting culture among students, but also diversify within the field, speaks of unlimited opportunities within the ambit of sports.

Physiotherapy, exercise and sports medicine, sports nutrition, coaching, analytics, strength and mental conditioning, broadcasting, media are just some of the fields that both successful and not-so-successful sportspersons can fall back on as career choices.     

"What we need to do is ask, how do we put all our expertise together and see if we can bring about some radical change in the way we look at sports being integrated into the education system. We need to also provide adequate opportunities for people to get academic qualifications as sports credentials or coaching credentials so that it serves as a capacity building exercise," adds Venkatesh.   

The debate should not just be whether poor children should pursue sports, it should change to whether the country and the powers that be are ready to support them. It is a reality that without strong educational backing, most athletes risk ending up without career options or end up taking some lower-level jobs. But with policy changes, sports can become a viable and respected career.