Best numbers game

It8217;s all very simple: If you want more medals at the Olympics, cut down on the syllabus at school. The sports ministry has done its arithmetic and figured out that children spend too much time on maths 8212; 90 per cent of study time, according to one estimate 8212; and so have little time to develop their sporting prowess. Accordingly, it has asked the HRD ministry to consider making mathematics an optional subject from Class IX onwards so that students would have more play time. Up next, though it hasn8217;t been officially confirmed, is a request that science be dropped so India can finally come up with a replacement for Sachin Tendulkar. In fact we may even have found a solution to our hockey crisis 8212; do away with history and remove the weight of the past from our national team.

There is of course the possibility that the request, if acted on, will not solve the two basic problems that are the issue: The overburdened student and the underperforming sportsman. The first is already being tackled by experts but it is the second that is obviously of concern to the sports ministry. They could have tackled it from the other end, by building sports infrastructure, by focussing on finding and grooming talent and then giving that talent a fair chance. But why attempt that when you can play the passing game 8212; in this case, passing the buck?

The tougher, yet far more beneficial, option would be to force budding sportsmen into a rounded education. A major problem with Indian sport is the sheer lack of education among sportsmen, which often leaves them at the mercy of a corrupt, exploitative system, in which the spoils of success are spread around but the taint of failure or scandal is limited to the athlete. The doping issue, for example, becomes easier to understand when seen through this prism. Education would be a safety net even for those who succeed; the TV and media boom has increased opportunities for sportsmen in their retirement 8212; though it demands a minimum level of awareness. The sports ministry8217;s endeavour may be welcomed by thousands of students for whom maths is nothing but a nightmare, but this is one appeal the umpire should turn down.