Shimla: School students in Himachal Pradesh will soon be practicing complex asanas as the state government is all set to introduce yoga in the school syllabus from the next academic session.

Yoga will be introduced as an optional subject for classes VIth to Xth from the next academic session, Chairman of HP Board of School Education (HPBSE) Chaman Lal Gupta said. The subject will be of 100 marks and would comprise a written examination as well practicals.

The HPBSE chairman said the syllabus was being finalised in consultation with yoga guru Swami Ramdev's Patanjali Yogpeeth and Sri Sri Ravishanker's Art of Living . "A team constituted by the board for preparing the syllabus is in the final stage," he said.

Opinion on the subject has also been taken from a host of experts on the subject within the state, he said.

The state education department has also decided to introduce yoga for students in all schools in a phased manner. Education Minister I D Dhiman said students would practice yogic exercises for an hour during school time. There are 1,247 senior secondary, 832 high schools, 2,000 middle schools and 1,050 primary schools in HP.

Dhiman said that some schools for girls in the state were already holding yoga sessions by practitioners from Ramdev's centre and Art of Living and it has yielded good results. Buoyed by the success, the department decided to start the same in all schools in a phased manner.

Source : PTI