Bidhannagar Government High School in BD Block now has a gym. Minister and MLA Sujit Bose inaugurated the gym on June 20 and immediately excited students started trying their hand at the equipment.

“Swami Vivekananda used to say that along with studying The Gita, one should also play football. So clearly, sports is important,” said Bose. “Unfortunately I do not have the time to hit the gym but I’m happy that students of this school will be able to do so now.”

The gym, set up in what used to be a ground floor classroom, has a manual treadmill, two stationery cycles, multi-gym machine, dumbbells, weight-lifting bars and yoga mats. As per a government policy, the state sports and youth services department will grant Rs 3 lakh to all government schools to set up gyms.

The school’s sports teachers Sachindra Nath Koner and Mou Rani Das felt the gym would be a valuable addition to the school. “Ours students play volleyball, basketball, badminton, football, cricket and drill but for strength-building, the gym is irreplaceable. Also when it rains or is too hot, students cannot play in the school’s open-air quadrangle or the adjoining BD Park. The indoor gym would be a boon then,” said Das. Koner added that teachers would be welcome to use the gym too.

From 2019, the school has introduced physical education as a subject at the Higher Secondary level and 20 students have opted for it. “I love sports and had the subject been on offer last year I would surely have studied it,” said Soham Das of Class XII. Soham was one of the first students to start checking out the equipment after the minister inaugurated it.

Sampriti Dey, another Class XII student, trains in athletics at the Sports Authority of India (SAI), where she also uses the gym. “No matter which sport one pursues one must build strength in the gym. And now I can do so in school too.”

Also present at the inauguration was principal of Bhagabati Devi Balika Vidyalaya, the girls school in AE Block, where the gym was inaugurated in January but has yet to start.

Waiting for a trainer

Bhagabati Devi Balika Vidyalaya in AE Block got its gym in January but the gym stays under lock and key. Like the BD Block school, the gym at the girls’ school was inaugurated by MLA Sujit Bose but it hasn’t been used for want of a gym instructor.

“We are thankful to the government for the equipment but without a trainer we cannot use them,” says headmistress Prativa Podder. Students of up to Class VIII here play kho kho, perform yoga and are said to be keen to use the gym too. “But without proper guidance they may injure themselves. We have sports teachers but they are not familiar with exercising machines.”

The gym at Bhagabati Devi Balika Vidyalaya in AE Block hasn’t been used for want of a gym instructor Picture by Mayukh Sengupta

The school has contacted some female gym instructors but they are demanding high salaries. Podder sought help from Bose on the day of the BD Block school’s gym inauguration but knows it is a tall order. “The instructor’s pay is not part of the package being doled out but the government should have provided the salary of the instructor at least for the initial years. Thereafter we could have made do from our own funds,” says Podder. “Otherwise the machines will get spoilt for lack of use.”