Sports education opportunities opening up in India

India’s Delhi University women’s football team training with the Asia Pacific Football Academy at Lincoln University is an early example of growing activities between India and New Zealand sports education providers.

While the Delhi University project is helping building connections at institutional level, there are opportunities emerging across a range of sports education and related disciplines.  

According to one recent industry report, sports spending in India is outpacing the country’s relatively high economic growth rates.

India’s Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) has a focus – and a NZ$370 million annual budget – to develop sports in India.

Every Indian school with more than 100 students is expected to employ a part-time physical education (PE) instructor. When this legislative requirement is fully implemented, millions of physical education instructors and teachers must be trained or up-skilled.

The Indian government has also said it will setup sports institutes, with private sector support, in every district of the country. Private sector involvement in sports education is on the rise.India is also broadening the types of sports it plays.

The first edition of the Elite Football League of India (EFLI) kicked off late last year - matches were beamed to 70 million homes across India.

Based on the current trends in India, and interest from the Indian system, the following disciplines and areas could be explored for opportunities in India:

• Sports management

• Physical education in schools

• High performance centres

• Sport science and medicine.

Education New Zealand’s New Delhi office helped Delhi and Lincoln universities and the Asia Pacific Football Academy get their partnership underway.
For more information contact: Dr Shruti Jain, Project Coordinator, Education New Zealand, New Delhi.