DW BUREAU / Chandigarh The Haryana government on Wednesday announced that yoga will be included as a separate subject in all government schools from the next academic session. The decision, which the government said is aimed at inculcating the habit of practising yoga among students, was taken at a meeting of the Haryana Yog Parishad chaired by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. The government also decided to set up 1,000 more 'yogshalas' in the state, according to an official statement. "Yoga will be included in the school curriculum as a separate subject in all government schools across the state from the next academic session commencing April 1, 2021," the statement said. During the meeting, officials informed that apart from moral education, yoga is already being taught to students since academic session 2016-17, it said. "But, taking a step ahead now, it has been decided that yoga will be a compulsory or optional subject in the school curriculum and the Department of School Education has constituted a committee for this purpose," it said. According to the statement, the subject curriculum would be designed in such a way that it would have both theoretical and practical content on the pattern of physical education so that besides education students could get training in yoga. With this, Haryana will perhaps become the first state in the country to include yoga as a subject in schools, the statement said. Speaking at the meeting, Khattar said the aim of the state government is to take yoga to the grassroots level and encourage people to make it a part of their lifestyle, it said. "For this, yoga, 'vyayamshalas' and other adequate infrastructure are being made available at the village level," he said. (editor@dailyworld.in)