Ahmedabad: School management bodies across Gujarat have expressed concern over the govt's decision to exclude grant-in-aid schools from the recent sports assistant recruitment scheme.

They have submitted a representation to the chief minister, demanding the allocation of one sports assistant for every four classes in these schools. The demand affects over 9,000 grant-in-aid schools, where more than 5 million students are currently enrolled.Following a 2011 govt notification, the recruitment of teaching staff in grant-in-aid schools was centralised under the education department. Before this, schools had at least one or two physical education (PE) teachers based on the number of classes.

Currently, very few such teachers remain in these institutions. Despite existing rules requiring schools to maintain a designated play area — 800 sq yards in urban and 1200 sq yards in rural areas — most lack PE instructors.Earlier, PE teachers trained students in activities like marching bands and drills, and prepared teams for inter-school sports events. Sports periods were regularly scheduled, including mass drills on Saturdays.

Such traditions are now fading due to the absence of trained staff.

Recently, the state announced recruitment of sports assistants in govt and district panchayat schools, with a ratio of one per 300 students. Grant-in-aid schools were excluded, prompting management bodies to call for equal implementation of the scheme.