Education Department’s whims and fancies

Navneet Singh CHANDIGARH, April 23: The sports cell of UT Education Department is in a sorry state of affairs. While the officials are makin...

Navneet Singh CHANDIGARH, April 23: The sports cell of UT Education Department is in a sorry state of affairs. While the officials are making merry, the students, who aspire to achieve recognition at the National Schools Games under the aegis of School Games Federation of India (SGFI) in various sports disciplines, are badly hit. Not for any fault of theirs, but due to a wrong policy framed by the officials of the Education Department. Surprisingly, most of the officials, who act as selectors, often allegedly shirk from their duty during the selection trials to choose the state teams for the National School Games. This has not only forced the players to protest against the high handedness of the department but also had to seek the help of the courts.

Recently a judo player got a stay order from the court, when the UT Education Department did not allow her to take part in a state meet, which automatically would have marred her chances in the nationals. Armed with the stay order she eventually participated in the nationals.

This time it was the turn of the badminton players to suffer at the hands of the department. After conducting the state badminton meet, the department organised trials to select the under-14 and under-19 boys and girls teams for the National School Games. However, the players in the under-17 category were not allowed to participate in the trials. They were informed by the officials of the department, that separate trials will be held for them.

But that day did not materialise as the officials back-tracked from their promise, leaving the players in the dark. The plea of the department officials is that the new category (under-17) was introduced by the SGFI during this academic session, hence they were unable to include it in the calender for the year 1997-98. “We don’t have funds to send the team in the under-17 category,” said Paramjit Singh, who is looking after the sports cell. Joginder Moti, District Education Officer (DEO), when contacted regarding the issue showed her ignorance. “I can only brief, after consulting my subordinates, ” she said, showing how ill-equipped the DEO was regarding its sports policy.

However, BD Gandhi, secretary, SGFI said that the sports calendar for the year 1997-98 was declared in July (1997), which also included events in the new age categories in various disciplines. “If the department (UT) wishes it can hold trials and send the team,” said the SGFI secretary.

It may be recalled that the National School Games meet, has assumed significance as the Indian School team will be selected during the meet for the forthcoming Asian school meet and some of the shuttlers from the City stand a chance in the Indian School team.

“Why were we not allowed to take part in the under-19 category?” asked one of the players in the under-17 section. With just a few days left for the nationals, the players have been running from pillar to post but were unable to achieve any breakthrough as the officials refused to budge.

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Different reasons!
The officials of the Education Department held different opinions regarding the under-17 badminton team’s non-participation for the nationals.

One official said there were no funds while the other said that a meeting was being held regarding the selection. However, one of the officials who was looking after the sports cell of the department and retired only a couple of days ago said, “We will introduce the event (under-17) from the next academic session,” said OP Goyal, who has a considerable clout in the department.

Chandigarh Home-cum-Education Secretary Anuradha Gupta refused to comment, when contacted.