Yoga not made mandatory in KVs, JNVs: Smriti Irani

NEW DELHI: HRD Minister Smriti Irani today said that yoga will not be treated as a mandatory subject for students in Kendriya Vidyalayas and Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas, though it has been made a part of physical activity programme in schools.

Informing this in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha, the minister said, "Yoga is not a compulsory subject in Kendriya Vidyalayas and Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas, though it is part of sports and physical activity in schools."

She was responding to a question in the Lower House whether the government has decided to make yoga mandatory in all central government-run schools, including KVs and JNVs.

The ministry of AYUSH had yesterday said that "there are 15,962 schools affiliated to the CBSE who have already been advised to provide compulsory 40-45 minutes of physical activities or games to the students of Classes I-X every day...

"...and that students of Classes XI-XII should participate in physical activity/ games/mass physical training/yoga for at least two periods per week (90-120 minutes/ week)," it said based on the information provided by the HRD ministry.

Irani, in her reply, today said, "The syllabus on yoga from upper primary to secondary stage has been developed by NCERT and two books for yoga for upper primary and secondary stages were released during the celebration of International Yoga Day."

"Yoga education has been made a compulsory area of study and practice by all teacher educators and student-teachers," she said.

Irani also said that National Council of Teacher Education has developed modules on yoga education for Diploma in Elementary Education, Bachelor of Education and Master of Education programme.