Sports tracking

Much has been said about both the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister - Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin - are former Sports Ministers and it will augur well for sports.

The fact the Muhyiddin is also the Education Minister, further fuels the believe that there is going to be a great foundation laid for Malaysian sports.

There is no denying that both gentlemen are passionate lovers of sports and will do whatever necessary to see Malaysian sports rise.

However, these two men at the helm alone cannot make things happen. It is the people below them - the administrators - who have to be hands on and take matters with urgency. Meetings have to be precise and implementations of plans have to be on the express track. If anyone drags their feet, all plans will be derailed.

Already, Muhyiddin has said that as part of its programme to beef up sports at school level, the government has decided to set up a specialist teacher training institute where it will train teachers to coach in various sports. It will also to train technical officials.

Muhyiddin said that he hopes to see the institute operational by next year, at the earliest. He also made it clear that he wants to make sports a priority in schools so that students can get balanced education.

He went to say that he is aware of problems such as the lack of fields and sports teachers.
He suggested that schools who do not have fields share it with those who have and was thinking of offering incentives to get more teachers involved.

All well and good, but it must be made to become a reality.

Lack of proper playing fields is perennial problem (refer to this story) but has not be resolved over the years.

To bring back the sports culture to our society, suggestions have been made on numerous occasions to allow housing estates who lack recreational facilities to use school fields after school hours. The Parent Teachers Association (PTA) and the local Residents Association (RA) were suggested to work together, so that the management of the school field and other sporting facilities can be worked out on a cost sharing basis.

But nothing has happened, the reason being there is too many red-tapes.

The suggestion was even made to the new Sports Minister, Datuk Ahmad Sabery Cheek, at the meet-session with the National Press Club exco members. He said he will look into it.

There are 7,655 primary schools and 2,189 secondary schools for a total of 9,844 in the country.
Not all of these schools have fields. Even those who have fields are in bad condition because of poor maintenance.

Maybe a joint venture between the PTAs and RAs will be a solution to improve the conditions of the field.

Indeed food for thought. But it has to be addressed on the express lane!