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Education Ministry's strategy killing grassroots development

THE domino effect has begun.
The decision by the Education Ministry to slash 11 of the 24 sports from this year's Malaysian Schools Sports Council (MSSM) calendar has resulted in some State School Councils doing the same.

The councils have instructed their schools to scrap the 11 sports at the zone or district level.

Their reasoning is because of budget cuts and to adhere to MSSM's policy.

This despite Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin's promise of training more teachers for sports and making sports a priority in schools.

The councils feel there is no need to organise the 11 sports at the lowest levels since it is not on the MSSM calendar.
And Sports Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek did not disagree with the so called pro-active measures taken by the Education Ministry and other organisations to cut cost.

The minister felt that adjustments should be made due to budget constraint.

My question is where does the RM4 annual contribution by students for MSSM activities go? Is it going to sports?

The axed sports are bowling, squash, archery, table tennis, rugby, cricket, sailing, softball, handball, cross country and chess. MSSM has also decided against organising the Under-15 category at the national level.

Even sports organised this year are facing almost similar consequences because of budget cuts.

For instance, the district and inter-district hockey competition in Malacca will be a six-a-side affair.

I am truly perplexed with the Malacca Sports authorities as hockey is played with 11 players on each side and not six. It is learnt other states have followed suit.

How on earth will hockey gain by holding six-a-side tournaments?

My recommendation is that the concerned state councils should opt for organising indoor hockey competitions -- a five-a-side event played on cement.


At least by doing this, some kind of contribution is made towards the development of indoor hockey.
Definitely, the strategy adopted by the Education Ministry is killing grassroots development. Let's see how far it goes.

On another matter, the FA of Malaysia (FAM) will decide soon on whether to absorb the National Under-21 team into the ongoing Super League.

If this should happen, FAM will get into the Guinness Book of Records for allowing a team into a league when it is in progress. I am sure this has never happened before anywhere but knowing FAM, Malaysia could have the distinction of being the first in the world.

The National Under-21 team were supposed to feature in the Super League but FAM decided on barring them on the reason to have them play in the S-League in Singapore.

But that did not materialise and coach Azraai Khor's side are now hoping to feature in the local league. NST

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