Effect of the Inclusion of Sports Component in Comprehensive School Evaluation System On the Girl Students‟ Attitude towards Sports and
Abstract
Girls are significantly less likely than boys to participate in sports. At theprimary and secondary school levels, most girls do not actively take part in sports andgames even during the allotted period. Factors like socio-economic background, familystructure and school have effects on socializing boys and girls into athletics (Videon,2002). Schools have the primary social responsibility of educating girl students on howcrucial it is to involve in sports activities in order to keep themselves fit, to displaycourage and determination, and to take up leadership roles.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), one of India‟s nationaleducational boards introduced a new evaluation system - “continuous andcomprehensive evaluation” (CCE) in 2009 and this included sports as a co-scholasticaspect of child growth that needs to be recorded. It is felt that the CCE system has animpact on girl students‟ participation in sports. This paper reports the findings of a studyof changes, if any, in girl students‟ attitudes towards games and sports after theintroduction of this system and the related development of qualities such as self esteem,positive attitude and adaptive behaviour.
The study was conducted using questionnaire responses of 30 girl students, theirparents and two teachers of games and sports in an all-girls CBSE school in Chennai,India. Data was triangulated using semi-structured interviews of the same sample.Findings show that interest had risen among girl students as a result of the switchover toCCE system. Greater support from parents and teachers, higher self esteem and a morepositive attitude towards participation in sports were reported by students and theirparents. Teachers showed that they had become more assertive within the school onissues of participation of girl students in sports.
Key words: Girl student, School, Evaluation, Sports, Social responsibility, GenderParity
