The Education Department corrected its mistake by reinstating the Physical Education Teacher Protection Order by including the Physical Education Teachers who lost their posts in 2023 and 24. On October 8, Kerala Kaumudi had published an editorial and news report highlighting the need to give retrospective effect to the 1:300(teacher-student ratio) protection order implemented for the Physical Education Teachers who lost their posts.

The Education Minister and the top officials of the department deserve praise for recognising this and taking a strong decision. In the past, Physical Education Teacher posts were granted only if there were 500 children in UP schools. In 2017, when C Raveendranath was the Education Minister, an order was issued to protect Physical Education Teachers by increasing the ratio to 1:300 in UP following protests from the Physical Education Teachers’ Association.

However, when this order was revoked by the government in 2023, more than fifteen Physical Education Teachers in public schools were dismissed from service. Following a petition submitted by the Joint Physical Education Teachers' Association to Minister V. Sivankutty, an order was issued last month, again increasing the ratio to 1:300. However, the order stated that it was applicable only for the appointment of posts for the 2025-26 academic year. With this, the majority of those dismissed were unable to return to service.

The new order has brought relief to those who lost their posts in the years 23-24 and 24-25. Sports teachers had been boycotting school sports festivals from the sub-district level onwards, demanding that the order be given retrospective effect. In the meantime, complaints were rampant about schools assigning teachers, with zero know-how of sports, to organise many sub-district and district sports festivals.

The government's new decision will pave the way for a better organised state school sports festival, which is scheduled to begin in the capital city next week. Sports competition venues are not meant to be chaotic. Sports can be a better alternative to give relief for students who are now on the cusp of plunging into the vicious addiction of drugs and other banned substances. It is the need of the hour to appoint physical education teachers in every school, regardless of the number of children. Currently, there are no physical education teacher posts at the LP level and higher secondary level in public schools. The only ones available are in UP and high schools.

These teachers draw the salary of only an LP school teacher and are piled up with a large workload that includes maintaining discipline among all students and the burden of sports activities. It is impossible to ignore the fact that Kerala has gone backwards, including in the recent National Junior Athletic Meet held in Odisha. School sports meets are the foundation of Kerala's sporting progress. Sports talents like P.T. Usha and Shiny Wilson emerged through school meets after their talent was recognised by prescient school-level physical education teachers. There are only 1,869 physical education teachers in the state to provide physical education training to 40 lakh students from primary to higher secondary.

As a first step towards change, let’s hope the government succeed in their efforts to organise the upcoming sports festival in Thiruvananthapuram in all its grandeur. It will send a big message, a rather positive one.