Education minister proposes inclusion of yoga in NCERT curriculum

Minister of Education with the Government of India, Dharmendra Pradhan, recently proposed the inclusion of yoga from Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) till Class XII. Speaking at the National Yoga Olympiad on June 18 in New Delhi, Pradhan claimed yoga to be an important part of one’s health and well-being as well as physical education. "Yoga is an integral part of health, wellness and physical education. I suggest that NCERT should include the ancient wisdom of yoga in our curriculum. While we are in the process of developing the National Curriculum Framework, we must prioritise yoga right from early childhood care and education till Class XII," said the Union education minister.

The National Yoga Olympiad was organised by the Ministry of Education and the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) between June 18 and 20, 2022. Nearly 600 students from 26 states/UT and other multipurpose model schools from regional educational institutions participated in the olympiad.

Pinpointing the benefits of yoga in the post-COVID world, the minister added: "Yoga has served humanity in alleviating sufferings and building resilience, especially during the post-COVID era. Yoga is uniting the world in the pursuit of good health and wellness." Furthermore, the minister also stressed on the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 to lay devoted emphasis on the emotional and physical well-being of both teachers and students.

As per the statement released by the ministry, Pradhan mentioned about yoga being India's gift to the world and that it has earned stupendous popularity universally, ever since the UN General Assembly had taken up PM Modi's proposal to celebrate June 21st as International Day of Yoga.

Dinesh Prasad Saklani, director NCERT and professor; M P Punia, vice-chairman, AICTE; Pratyush Kumar Mandal, secretary, NCERT and professor; Shridhar Srivastava, joint director, NCERT and professor, as well as other senior officials of the Ministry of Education and students from different parts of the country attended the olympiad. The first session of the National Yoga Olympiad was held in 2016 by the NCERT.