Assessment Of Sports Facilities And Its Influence On Inter-Regional Sports Participation Among Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas

Abstract

Sports facilities have been widely considered as a necessary precondition for institutional engagement in competitive sport but the relationship between sports and institutional engagement has not been quantified at the school level in Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) system of North-East India. The present study analysed the effect of sports facility adequacy split into four sub-domains (Ground, Indoor, Outdoor and Equipment) on the Inter-Regional (JNVS) participation of the ninety-eight (98) JNVs of the Shillong Region during the decade 2015 to 2025. Using descriptive-analytical, correlational design, the facility data was collected through structured 23-item Observation Schedule, which was combined into the ground, indoor, outdoor, equipment, and composite Facility Index scores of the 98 institutions (census sampling), and were correlated with the number of participants each institution sent to the JNVS Inter-Regional competitions. Correlations between facility sub-scores and participation ranged from r = .778 to r = .833 (all p < .001); the composite Facility Index correlated with participation at r = .882 (p < .001). Inter-Regional participation was best explained by a multiple linear regression model with four predictors (Grounds, Indoor, Outdoor and Equipment scores) that accounted for 77.7% of the variance in the participation (R² = .777, adjusted R² = .767, F(4, 93) = 80.95, p < .001), with equipment adequacy being the strongest predictor (β = .251, p < .001). The results provide solid empirical evidence for the hypothesis of the study that there is a significant and very strong positive relationship between Facility-adequacy and Inter-Regional sports participation and has direct implications for Infrastructure-planning priorities in the JNVS Shillong Region