New Delhi,  With an effort to strengthen the professional development of Physical Education Teachers and Community Coaches across India, another batch of Khelo India e-Khel Pathashala's Foundation Course for Physical Education and Community Coaches has been started.

This is a unique course that offers a uniform structured curriculum on an online platform through which grassroots-level physical educators and community coaches can improve their skills.

The programme was attended by Sujata Chaturvedi, Secretary of Youth Affairs and Sports on Tuesday, as she addressed over 5000 physical education teachers under the Ministry of Education from all over India and congratulated them on joining a course, which in the last few years has carved a niche for itself in sports education.

The e-Khel Pathshala course is being organised by the Sports Authority of'India's Lakshmibai National College of Physical Education and is now in its seventh batch.

Speaking at the event, Chaturvedi said, "The Government of India, under the leadership of our Honourable Prime Minister, has been paying a lot of attention to sports and the recent success in the Olympics and Paralympics is witness to that change. We are now looking to become a superpower in sports and to achieve that we need to strengthen every aspect of the sports ecosystem - from grassroots to elite.

"It is with this intention that e-Khel Pathshala has been launched so that right from the grassroots level we can educate sports teachers and equip them with the right set of knowledge and skills to conduct physical education classes for lakhs of young students, many of who may be probable athletes." She added, "It is from this pool that we will have the next Olympics medallists and I have no doubt about that."

The course primarily aims to focus on the importance of physical fitness for school-going children. During the 6-week programme, the attendees will have a total of 36 distinguished speakers taking 40 online classes where they will discuss topics such as Roles and Responsibilities of Physical Education Teachers and Community Coaches, Integration of fitness into current activities in schools and Concepts of Fitness, Health, Physical Education, Sports Science, among other.

On completion of the course, the attendees will give an examination on the sessions they have attended over the period of 6 weeks for certification of the foundation course.