Impact of Physical Education Curriculum on Academic Achievement of Higher Secondary School Students in India

Abstract

In the present study, the researchers were mainly interested in investigating the impact of PE curriculum on the academic achievements of the Higher Secondary (HS) level (10+2) students belonging to two different educational boards in India i.e., West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE) and Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). On the basis of simple randomization, one hundred eighty (N=180) HS level boys were selected from four schools (two schools from each board) as participants for the present study. Among 180 students, 120 students [60 from each educational board, WBCHSE acted as experimental Group-I (EGWB–I); CBSE acted as experimental Group-II (EGCB–II)] were so selected that they had PE as a compulsory subject and rest, 60 students [30 from each educational board, simultaneously acted as Control Group (CGWB+CB)] had either computer science or painting as a compulsory subject in place of PE. The students of EGWB–I & EGCB–II underwent two different PE curriculums as training interventions over an academic year (11 months). But the CGWB+CB did not receive any PE curriculum as a training intervention. The student’s academic achievement was measured by obtained marks in two common subjects (Bengali and English) for both boards. It was standardized through T-score and finally, composite T-score were calculated for all the subjects to draw statistical inference on academic achievement. Statistical inference on academic achievement among the groups in baseline and post-test were drawn through ANCOVA followed by Tukey's LSD post-hoc test. Significance was tested at p<.05 level. Both EGWB–I & EGCB–II showed a significant difference compared to the CGWB+CB in academic achievement. But no significant difference was observed between EGWB–I & EGCB–II. The academic achievement of the students having PE as a subject improved significantly compared to the students having no PE as a compulsory subject in both boards. But the PE curriculum in both boards was found to be equally effective for developing students' academic achievement.