Bhaktapur – Minister for Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation, Badri Pandey, has emphasized the need to introduce yoga education across all schools in Nepal.
Inaugurating a training program titled “School Yoga Education” and “Central Yoga Motivators for School Teachers” held at Adarsha Secondary School in Sanothimi, Bhaktapur, Minister Pandey stated that yoga is an effective method for maintaining health and should be included at the school level.
He further remarked that the school yoga program, which began in Bhaktapur, should be expanded to all 77 districts, aiming to engage teachers, students, and the youth in yoga practice.
“Nepal’s youth must be brought into the practice of yoga,” he said. “In the next 15 years, young people across the country will be engaged in yoga. The knowledge and practice of yoga can bring peace to families, society, the nation, and even the world. Yoga positively impacts human health and is therefore essential for everyone. This movement begins from Nepal.”
Stressing the need to balance the physical and metaphysical aspects of life through yoga, he said that spreading yoga is necessary to guide human civilization in the right direction. A balanced integration of religious wisdom and scientific understanding, connected to the mind and body, is vital for building a prosperous society, he added.
Director General of the Education and Human Resource Development Center, Krishna Prasad Kapri; Bhaktapur’s Chief District Officer Bharat Mani Pandey; and other officials also highlighted the importance of school-centered yoga education.
According to Navaraj Kafle, coordinator of the program and the District Yoga Coordination Committee, around 60 teachers from across the district participated in the yoga training, which will run until 5 PM today.
However, some operators of institutional schools expressed dissatisfaction, claiming that community schools were prioritized while institutional schools and their umbrella organizations were excluded. They also accused the Bhaktapur Education Development and Coordination Unit of discriminatory practices and budget misuse in the program.
