New Delhi: Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani announced on Monday that yoga will be made compulsory in all central schools from Class 6 to 10.

The launch of the syllabus and course material for these classes by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and the training module for teacher education programme prepared by the National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE) comes a day after the world celebrated the International Day of Yoga.

"In all central government sponsored schools where the new yoga syllabus will be taught at the upper primary and secondary level, 80 percent marks will be for practicals and only 20 percent for theory," she said, adding this won't be an additional burden on the students.

Irani urged students to learn the ancient practice diligently.

"Through this, we intend to ensure that there is an increase in the physical and cultural activity in schools and our children willingly and happily go to school," she said.

The minister said: "There will be diploma in yoga education along with masters and bachelors in yoga education. It is not enough to only ask students to learn yoga."

She was speaking at the inauguration of the Rashtriya Yoga Shikshak Sammelan at the Talkatora Indoor Stadium here.

The two-day conference will discuss topics like yoga for holistic development, yoga for needs of special children, yoga and stress management, yoga in curriculum and best practices in yoga teaching.

Irani also announced the launch of a mobile application on July 17 which would enable students to download all NCERT books from Class 1 to 12 for free.

She said that in December, a national competition called "Kala Utsav" would be held to promote regional arts, crafts, music and dance.

Irani also announced a national-level competition on yoga for school children next year, adding students and teachers who perform well would be awarded an incremental prize of Rs.5 lakh. (IANS)