A recent report from Times of India – Kochi reveals that school and college playgrounds in Ernakulam are shrinking as institutions increase built infrastructure on their campuses. Activities like football, assemblies, and physical education are increasingly held indoors or shifted to external grounds due to limited usable open space.
Sree Rama Varma School, an institution with almost 200 years of history, no longer has a functional football ground. Students currently use a poorly maintained basketball court surrounded by construction equipment, parked vehicles, overgrown vegetation, and stagnant rainwater. Other schools report similar issues, with no government or aided schools possessing adequate sports grounds.
Athletic meets and sports practice are increasingly conducted at shared external venues like the Maharaja’s College ground and Government Ayurveda College ground. This creates challenges related to scheduling, transport, and access.
Experts emphasize that open spaces are critical not just for sports but also for assemblies, cultural programs, informal interaction, and student well-being. Moving these activities indoors can impact children’s physical and mental health.
The problem points to a broader issue of educational campus planning, suggesting the need for treating open space as essential infrastructure rather than leftover land. Coordinated city-level planning and formal management of shared grounds could improve the situation. However, detailed data on campus area, student numbers, and formal arrangements for shared use remains unavailable, making it difficult to fully assess the citywide scale of the shortage.
