After all the hoohah surrounding the dropping of certain sports from the MSSM calender, the Malaysian government relented and did an about-turn. Read all about it here.
11 sports reinstated into MSSM calendar
PETALING JAYA: The Government’s decision to re-instate 11 sports into the National Schools (MSSM) calendar has received the thumbs-up from former National Sports Council (NSC) director general Datuk Wira Mazlan Ahmad.
Mazlan was happy that MSSM would be able to carry on with their plans to organise 24 sports at the national level as usual.
Yesterday, commonsense prevailed when Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced that funds would be provided for the MSSM to run all the 24 sports.
The 11 sports initially affected by the ministry’s decision to slash funding from RM6mil to RM1.5mil were squash, bowling, archery, table tennis, rugby, cricket, sailing, softball, handball, cross country and chess.
Those maintained in the programme were gymnastics (artistic and rhythmic), golf, swimming, athletics, badminton, netball, basketball, volleyball, sepak takraw, football, tennis and hockey.
The Education Ministry has now set aside a whopping RM89mil for both sports and co-curriculum events in the schools.
The decision also shows the Education Ministry’s seriousness in working with the Sports Ministry to give emphasis to grassroots development.
Mazlan said the decision should put an end to the growing frustration and disappointment among sports officials, parents and athletes over the huge budget slash that saw the MSSM dropping 11 sports from its calendar earlier this year.
“It is a good decision by the Minister to bring back the sports into the MSSM calendar. It should make everyone happy,” said Mazlan, who was once an advisor to the schools sports council.
Mazlan hoped that the schools and National Sports Associations (NSAs) would get back to strengthening the grassroots level.
“They should now take advantage of the situation and work on grooming the best athletes for the National Schools. The focus should be on promoting the sports culture among the young and identifying the talents for the future,” he added.
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Now let’s get back to developing our pool of talent to be world class bowlers.
Jonathan
