The State Duma proposed returning GTO standards to schools

Not so long ago, classroom duties and labor lessons returned to schools, and updated CVP is at the ready. And now another return in the “as before” style: the GTO system can resume.

Deputy Sergei Koltunov came up with this initiative. Discussing existing school disciplines, a member of the Duma Committee on Construction and Housing and Public Utilities noted that “tests in the physical education and sports complex” are now voluntary. And that’s wrong. There are annual tests in other subjects, Russian, mathematics, and there should also be physical education.

“This is a kind of summing up the results of the year – they check how the guys have mastered everything they learned during the year,” the deputy argues. According to the parliamentarian, there is no need to reinvent the wheel: “the Ready for Labor and Defense complex, revived in 2014, will come in handy.”

In general, passing sports standards should be equated to tests and made mandatory for schoolchildren – the deputy was going to approach the Ministry of Education with this idea. “Our nation and its future largely depend on sports training and the health of children,” says Koltunov.

Will it be better if we add one more control and one more reporting to the load? Necessary standards that everyone needs to take a “nose bleed”? And if a well-performing child cannot be “faster, taller, stronger,” then a C in physical education can spoil the certificate. And he will not be able to enter a good college after 9th grade. Namely, there is a “green light” for secondary education today; this is being discussed at the government and presidential levels.

“I believe that the main thing is not how much physical education grades influence the average score on the certificate,” comments methodologist and teacher of secondary vocational education Anastasia Gordeeva. – And the fact that schools have not solved the problem with medical certificates, which parents are still not obliged to take from doctors and bring to the physical education teacher. Which, as we know, leads to periodic injuries, exacerbations of diseases and, unfortunately, deaths in children with cardiovascular diseases. What will happen if we add GTO to all this?

Yes, in 2014 a presidential decree and government regulations on the GTO system were issued. There is a work program, a methodology – but for sports schools and sections. By the way, the recommendations clearly state that it is necessary to “reliably record their (children’s) health status, the health groups to which they are assigned in accordance with the conclusion of the medical organization.”

An ordinary school most often does not have sufficient space, inventory, or equipment to implement all this. The “relationship” of educational standards (FSES) and the GTO system is generally a separate topic. In the 90s, well-known teachers criticized the GTO, “… which boils down to the physical preparation of schoolchildren for work and military service, to the preparation of GTO badges” to the detriment of “the formation of sports skills.”

“That is, we still need to move from formally passing standards to “forming a culture of health, nurturing healthy lifestyle habits through physical culture,” continues Gordeeva. – So that children move, play sports and enjoy it.

Modern schools are moving along this path. In the USA, physical education encourages and develops physical activity and team sports: basketball, American football, baseball, etc.

In Japan, the profession of a physical education teacher is very respected; such a teacher must have a sports and medical education. Not at the level of first aid courses, but with the qualifications of a doctor. During lessons, children practice martial arts: sumo, jiu-jitsu, etc. Sports sections and clubs in schools are very developed; almost all schoolchildren are covered by them.

In the UK, physical education is a compulsory subject, one of three compulsory at all levels of school. The schools have swimming pools, tennis, basketball and football, golf, cricket and squash courts. You can choose your own type of activity, including rowing, horse riding, ballet and even skateboarding.

And in other countries, “right in physical education” you can do whatever your heart desires. The range includes field hockey, badminton, fencing, dance, golf, swimming, water polo, sailing, archery, yoga, rock climbing…

Help “MK”:

The GTO (Ready for Labor and Defense) system was introduced in the USSR in 1931. It was created to prepare the population for military service and increase the physical fitness of the population as a whole. Within the framework of the GTO system, physical training standards were defined that all citizens of the USSR were required to fulfill, starting from childhood. It continued to exist until the end of the USSR and was only abolished in 1991.

Today in Russia there is a comprehensive program “GTO-2020”, which includes new standards of physical training.