ALIGNING EDUCATION AND SPORT IN INDIA: NEP 2020, THE NATIONAL SPORTS GOVERNANCE ACT 2025, KHELO BHARAT NITI 2025 AND GLOBAL TRENDS: A REVIEW

India has, for the first time, a coherent policy framework that places sport inside education rather than beside it. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 makes sport a curricular, credit-bearing part of learning; the National Sports Policy 2025 (Khelo Bharat Niti) names "integration with education" as one of its five pillars; and the National Sports Governance Act, 2025 provides the country's first statutory framework for how sports bodies are recognised, governed and held to account. This review examines the extent to which these three instruments are aligned, and compares them with global trends in physical education (PE) and school sport.
Using a narrative review of policy texts, legislation, budget documents, UNESCO and WHO reports, and peer-reviewed literature (2015–2026), the paper finds strong convergence at the level of intent: holistic development, fitness as a lifelong attitude, talent pathways, inclusion and athlete-centred governance. It also identifies three structural gaps. First, the governance law regulates sports federations but is largely silent on school and university sport. Second, implementation depends on PE teachers, playing space and assessment systems that remain uneven across the country. Third, India lacks a national surveillance system for school PE and student physical activity, against a global backdrop in which about 81% of adolescents are insufficiently active.
The paper proposes a joint Education–Sport coordination mechanism, a regulatory bridge between school/university sport and national federations, a national PE quality framework with measurable minimum standards, earmarked funding, and routine data reporting through UDISE+. The findings are relevant to policymakers, teacher educators, school leaders, universities and sports administrators.