Shillong, May 09: Sports, Physical Education, Fitness & Leisure Sector Skills Council (SPEFL-SC), an initiative of the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Government of India along with its lead partner FICCI (Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry) and the NAUKRIS consortium of Tanjun Associate LLP, comprising of SEDA (Sports Education Development-Australia), EOSE (European Observatoire for Sports & Employment), Nunghshi Tashi Foundation & Global NOS expert Mr. Geoff Carroll.
The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), a Govt. of India initiative under the Skill India Program. Cdr Satish Aparajit (CEO of the Sector Skill Council), Mr. Rajpal Singh (Director Sports-FICCI), Mr. Sumit Kumar Agarwal (CEO- Tanjun Naukris Consortium), Ms. RekhaDey (Director & India Director -Sports Education Development Australia).
The purpose of the roundtable dialogue is to shape a roadmap towards making sports a sustainable career opportunity for the young demography of India. It is primarily aimed at identifying and implementing programs that can increase employability.
Representatives from the sports ecosystem of Meghalaya attended the discussion including experts in the area of sports coaching, sports support services, sports events, fitness trainers, Sports teachers, Indian sport players and representatives from the state government.
In a recent Tanjun-FICCI study it has been established that the country will need nearly 4.3 million people at the baseline sports and allied activity level to reach international standards and not only produce the expected number of medal winners at the international level but also bring down the national health bill by half. This event is a part of the ongoing series of interventions being undertaken by the SPEFL-SC across the country to introduce sports at the bottom of the pyramid, where most of our National sportspersons actually come from.It is estimated that for every 1100 persons on the field, we will need 55 coaches, 15 track & field experts, 25 sports medicine experts, 50 trainers, 11 sports psychologists, 15 sports nutritionists, and over 106 support personnel such as strength trainers, competition managers, bio-mechanical engineers, sports photographers, sports journalists, talent managers, Sports law experts, event managers etc.
Hence, this nationwide series is an effort to draw a clear roadmap for lifelong sports based career option for our youth and at the same time encourages the community to think of sports as an equally remunerative career at par with technical and/or management based careers in future.
The country currently has 783 colleges and institutions delivering B.PEd and M.PEd qualifications, which will have to grow to 7000 training providers. The SPEFL-SC has been mandated to find such training providers in each state and accredit them under the Skill development scheme and the PMKVY (Pradhanmantri Kaushal VikasYojana) through these dialogues. The certificate thus given from these training providers will be jointly assessed and certified by the SPEFL-SC and NSDC and shall be valid for employment in 120 nations across the globe.
Currently the SPEFL-SC has started the humungous task of writing the National Occupational Standards for each mainline & indigenous Sport that is played anywhere in India.
