Keeping Children Active Beyond the Classroom

During the COVID-19 pandemic, school closures disrupted children’s access to playgrounds, physical education sessions and organised sport.

To help children remain active from home, Sportz Village Foundation, supported by Bata India, piloted a digital physical education programme across four government schools and community institutions in Gurgaon.

The programme was implemented in:

• Sukhrali School
• Dhankot School
• Harsaru School
• Sugam NGO

The Sportz Village Leader Board

The digital programme was delivered through the Sportz Village Leader Board, an asynchronous learning platform designed to help children develop foundational physical skills and fitness.

The platform was built around two key ideas:

Self-Directed Content

The activities were designed so children could participate without requiring constant adult facilitation.

Gamified Learning

The platform created a social and engaging learning environment that encouraged children to stay involved with their activities.

Fitness Focus

The digital physical education programme focused on key aspects of children’s fitness:

• Aerobic capacity
• Anaerobic capacity
• Abdominal or core strength
• Flexibility
• Upper body strength
• Lower body strength

These fitness areas are important for helping children build overall physical capability, confidence and active lifestyle habits.

Improvement in Engagement

The programme tracked the engagement of a cohort of children over 12 weeks.

The number of active users increased steadily during the programme. Active participation rose from 33 children in Week 1 to 93 children by Week 5, reaching 98 children in Week 9.

Across the 12-week period, active participation remained consistently high, with more than 90 children actively engaging with the programme in the later weeks.

This showed that children were able to remain involved with a self-directed digital physical education format over a sustained period.

What Parents Observed

Parents reported positive changes in their children after participating in the digital programme.

The findings showed:

• 87% of children enjoyed the class
• 95% of children showed improvement in fitness levels
• 78% of children developed emotional capability to face challenges
• 77% of children developed a more disciplined lifestyle
• 92% of children showed improvement in communication abilities

One parent shared:

“Anjali exercises every day. And because of the daily exercise she remains fit and healthy.”

— Manju Devi, Parent

Keeping Children Active Beyond the Classroom

The programme showed that digital physical education can play an important role when children are unable to access regular sports sessions in schools.

By combining self-directed activities, gamified engagement and structured fitness goals, the Sportz Village Leader Board helped children continue developing their physical and emotional wellbeing from home.

The initiative also demonstrated that meaningful digital sports programmes can support children not only in improving fitness, but also in building discipline, confidence, communication and resilience.