‘School Sports System’ to be established to foster young athletes

Sports Minister Abdulla Rafiu, on Tuesday, announced the decision to establish a ‘School Sports System’ to foster young athletes and ensure physical fitness among children.

Speaking at a press conference held at the President’s Office on Tuesday, Minister Rafiu said foreign experts were brought in earlier this year to meet sports sector stakeholders, organizations, associations and ministries for information exchange and conducting research.

The need to establish an education system dedicated for sports was identified via these efforts said the Minister, adding discussions have been held between Education Ministry and Sports Ministry in this trajectory as well.

Minister Rafiu said the system will be established once the amendment to the Sports Act that has now been submitted to the Attorney General’s Office is ratified and comes into effect.

“The result of this (the discussions) was establishing the school sports system via the amendment we have currently submitted to AG. The ratification of the amendment will see the implementation of ways for children to maintain and measure their fitness,” he said.

The Minister underscored the need to train Physical Education (PE) teachers and sports councilors for this purpose, adding the government had allocated a budget to train such individuals.

In addition to this, Minister Rafiu revealed that two plots of 52,000 square feet have been arranged from Male’ area to develop sports complexes while stressing work on all these initiatives will be carried out this year.