The Teachers’ Day Question: Can India Really Become a Sporting Nation?

Every Teachers’ Day, we celebrate those who shaped our lives in classrooms – the lessons they taught and the values they instilled.

But this Teachers’ Day, I find myself thinking about a different kind of teacher: sport.

And that raises an uncomfortable question: can India really become a sporting nation?

I have my doubts.

Not because we lack talent or love sport. We do, and we celebrate our athletes with enormous enthusiasm. But watching sport and being a sporting nation are two very different things.

Look around.

The playgrounds where many of us grew up are disappearing. In my own locality, I have watched open spaces being taken over by promoters, with multi-storey apartments replacing them. These weren’t vacant plots. They were where children met, ran, competed and, most importantly, played without needing a coach or structured programme.

What happens when that space disappears?

There is tuition after school, homework and another class. Increasingly, even tuition is online. Children can spend yet another hour behind a screen without leaving home.

Convenience has increased. Physical activity has decreased.

Adults aren’t doing much better. Work has consumed our lives, and finding friends who can spare the same evening for even a five-a-side football match is becoming remarkably difficult.

Everyone is busy. Everyone is working.

So when do we play?

A sporting nation isn’t simply one that hosts the Olympics, Commonwealth Games, Asian Games or a FIFA World Cup. It is built lower down the pyramid – in neighbourhoods, schools and local grounds.

It begins with children playing because they enjoy it, not because someone has identified them as future Olympians.

Take football. Uttarpara, where I live, has a club playing in the Calcutta Football League. Yet it doesn’t play its CFL matches there, where local residents could watch their own team. How many people even know their local club is playing?

In 2024, when RevSportz’s Para Football tournament held several matches in Uttarpara, crowds turned up in numbers. People were interested. The problem wasn’t a lack of interest; it was a lack of opportunity.

Compare that with England, where lower-league football remains part of the community fabric. Families and neighbours turn up to watch clubs deep down the pyramid. The sporting culture isn’t created only by the Premier League or the World Cup. It exists in the tenth tier as well.

Then there is the athlete.

We tell athletes to dream big: win medals, represent India, stand on the podium. But ask many what they ultimately want from sport and the answer can be surprisingly simple: a job.

Why wouldn’t it be?

For some, a government or public-sector job after winning a medal means financial security for their families. If an athlete has trained for years without certainty, why should we expect them to reject a secure future for an abstract sporting dream?

I don’t blame athletes for choosing security. Sporting careers end, and not everyone can remain at the top.

But a sporting nation cannot be built around exceptions.

The real test is whether the ordinary child gets to play; whether families see sport as part of education; whether athletes can pursue it without constantly worrying about survival; and whether local sport matters enough for people to participate and watch.

Which brings us back to the classroom.

Why is a mathematics period rarely questioned, while a PT period can so easily be sacrificed? Why is the PT teacher often accorded less status than the mathematics or science teacher?

This isn’t an argument against academics. Education matters. But education is not only about marks.

Sport teaches discipline, teamwork, leadership, resilience, how to deal with failure, accept criticism and respect an opponent. These aren’t extracurricular lessons. They are lessons for life.

Perhaps the playground is also a classroom. Perhaps the PT teacher deserves the same respect as the mathematics teacher.

India may one day host the Olympics and win more medals than ever before. But none of that, by itself, will make India a sporting nation.

We will become one when neighbourhood grounds are protected; when children and adults have time to play; when local tournaments matter; and when athletes don’t have to choose between chasing a dream and securing survival.

Perhaps the lesson India needs to learn this Teachers’ Day is simple: we don’t need to tie our children to classrooms alone. We need to give them the space, time and freedom to breathe, play and thrive.

Because before we ask India to become a sporting nation, we need to become a nation that gives its people something increasingly precious: time, space and permission to play.

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