The Rajya Sabha on December 05, 2025, proposed the Compulsory Sports Education and Basic Infrastructure Development for Sports in Schools Act, 2025, which seeks to mandate free and compulsory sports education from primary to senior secondary level in all Government, Government-aided and private schools across India. The Act shall come into force on a date to be notified by the Central Government in the Official Gazette.
The Bill requires the Central Government to formulate a National Policy on Sports Education and Infrastructure Development, covering promotion of sports awareness, compulsory inclusion of sports as a subject, availability of trained sports instructors, age-appropriate sports curriculum, scholarships and stipends for meritorious sportspersons, academic weightage for sports achievements, and preference or reservation for outstanding sportspersons in public employment. It also envisages the use of schemes such as MGNREGS for development of basic sports infrastructure in rural schools.
The Bill places responsibility on the appropriate Government (Central or State) to implement and periodically review sports education standards in schools. It further provides for the constitution of a National Sports Education and Infrastructure Development Fund, funded by Central and State Governments, exclusively for implementation of the Act. Non-compliance by schools may attract regulatory action, including withdrawal of recognition, subject to due process. The Central and State Governments are empowered to frame rules to operationalise the legislation.
[Bill No. LVIII of 2025]
