India Signs UNESCO Pact on Sports Values in Classrooms

The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, the Ministry of Education and UNESCO exchanged a Memorandum of Understanding on 28 October 2026 to take the values of clean sport into schools across the country. The instrument of delivery is the Sports Values in Every Classroom Toolkit, whose video modules will be made available in 13 Indian languages. The exchange took place at the Clean Sport Conclave organised by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) India.

Who was present

Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Dr Mansukh Mandaviya and Union Education Minister Shri Pralhad Joshi led the Indian side. UNESCO was represented by Dr Tim Curtis, Director of its Regional Office for South Asia. Also present were TK Anil Kumar, Secretary of the Department of School Education, Hari Ranjan Rao, Secretary (Sports), and Anant Kumar, Director General of NADA. International delegates who had attended the statutory meetings of the UNESCO anti-doping conventions a day earlier joined the conclave, as did India's international javelin thrower Sachin Yadav.

What the toolkit teaches

The aim is to settle three values in children through lessons, games and everyday classroom activity: respect, integrity and fairness. Dr Curtis said the partnership opens a new chapter for UNESCO in India and could offer a model for other countries, adding that the real test of such values is whether children play fairly when nobody is watching. The approach is in line with the Khelo Bharat Niti 2025, which itself calls for the integration of sports with education.

The anti-doping backdrop

Dr Mandaviya said sporting excellence and sporting integrity must go together, and that doping remains a serious worry requiring steady work in education, prevention, testing and enforcement. He reported that during 2025-26 NADA conducted over 7,000 tests and more than 350 education and awareness sessions reaching 27,000 participants. Supplement testing facilities at the National Forensic Sciences University in Gandhinagar and the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research in Hyderabad help prevent cases of inadvertent doping. The National Anti-Doping Act came into force during the year, and the government is preparing to place provisions before Parliament for the criminalisation of doping-related activity.

Education meets sport

Shri Joshi called the understanding a step towards closing a gap that has persisted for long, noting that students who do well academically do not always play, and that grassroots opportunity and clear pathways for young athletes need strengthening. Dr Mandaviya also pointed to India's fourth place finishes at the Asian Games and the Asian Para Games as a sign of the country's rising sporting ambition.