Speaking at the meeting of Central Advisory Board of Education, sports minister MS Gill said sports has remained a neglected area in schools.

"Every school must have a compulsory sports period a day. The Central Schools and Navoday Vidyalayas need to do more for sports," he said at the meeting chaired by HRD minister Kapil Sibal.

The Sports Minister said according to the National Education Policy of 1986, sports is a part of education. "I want to provide sports and physical education a real place at all levels of education," he said.

Gill said his ministry has started National Rural Sport Endeavour, a scheme, under which 25,000 playgrounds have been constructed across the country. He mooted the idea of making sports and games a component of government's flagship Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA).

In a veiled reference to the problems faced by Indian students in Australia, Gill expressed concern over certain foreign educational institutions duping students from here by giving false promises.