Educational institutions not playing their due role in sports
By a Sports Correspondent
KARACHI, March 26: ‘Catch them young’. But the people responsible to carry out the job — Physical Education Instructor’s (P.T.I’s) have forgotten the meaning of this famous old saying. Due to their lack of interest, the educational institutions which are considered nurseries are not playing an effective role in unearthing young talent.
One feels sorry to say that the turnout of institutions at an Inter-school and Inter-collegiate sports meets in the city has drastically declined. These competitions are being held now as mere formality and not serving the purpose of throwing any talent at the national level. Inter-school competitions are considered as a first step for a sportsman who wants to reach the zenith in sports.
Almost all former stalwarts of the city have gone through the mill by participating in Inter-school, Inter-collegiate, Inter-board and Inter-university before achieving distinction to don Pakistan colours. This system served as a reservoir for a long time. The performance of a player was watched at all levels. Participation in these competitions used to be an honour for sportspersons.
After coming into limelight from Inter-school, Safdar Abbas became the youngest- ever hockey player to represent the country when he was a student of ninth class.
Karachiites still remember the names of Master Iqbal Hussain (Model High School), Prof. Abdul Sattar Kohati (S.M Commerce College), Prof Hashmatullah Lodhi (S M Science College), Prof Shamim Suri (St. Patrick’s), Mukarram Ali Sherwani (National College), Prof. Abdul Latif Khokhar (D.J College), M. A. Khan (Premier College), Ainuddin (GBSS Nazimabad No 1) to name a few, who have a knack for sports. They used to chase promising players by offering them free scholarship and other incentives for admission.
Model high school, Habib public school and GBSS Jacob lines used to dominate in Inter-school hockey. A keen tussle was witnessed between Habib Public School, CMS and Methodists School in athletics. GBSS Kotwal Building enjoys an edge in basketball. St. Patrick’s used to win honours in cricket.
The hockey finals, the athletic meet, the basketball battle on the court and the cricket matches used to attract bigger crowds than today’s cricket Test matches.
Similarly, winning Inter-collegiate general championship trophy was the hallmark of D.J college. National College and Premier College used to give tough time to D.J and even managed to clinch some competitions.
As far as women’s sports are concerned, St Joseph, Sir Syed and Karachi College used to share honours in Inter-Collegiate competitions.
It is an astonishing fact that only four teams featured in the Inter-school hockey tournament last year (2003-04) and this went unnoticed. Nusrat Hussain, coordinator sports, district office education elementary (male) told Dawn in response to a query.
According to him, there are approximately 400 plus government schools for boys, secondary and lower secondary, in the city and almost a similar number for girls. A government school charges Rs 40 per student as sports fee at the time of admission.
The situation in the colleges is also not very encouraging. There are 291 government and private colleges, both for men and women, in the city and the turn out in competitions always remain at a lower side.
Similarly, all government and private colleges charge a substantial amount of money in the name of sports fee while the Board of Intermediate Education, Karachi, generates approximately 0.3 m rupees annually in the name of sports with examination forms.
According to Syed Aliullah Hussainy, director physical education, (BIE), a sum of Rs.0.1 m is spent on organizing Inter-collegiate and participation in Inter- board tournaments, men and women.
Established in 1964-65, the Bakhtiari Youth Centre had the facilities for cricket, football, tennis, basketball and volleyball while no sports development has been carried out after 1974. One fails to understand as to why they have not created additional facilities over a period of years despite having sufficient funds for sports.
True, after implementation of Centralized Admission Policy (CAP) by the city government some times back, DPE’s of colleges have no power to pick the best available talent. Instead of continuing with the same spirit to raise team by grooming the lot, they seem to have lost interest.
The DPE’s of schools and colleges have a role to play as has been done by their predecessors. They must ensure participation in all schools and colleges level competitions. The government should also consider restoration of sports quota in colleges.
Another point which needs attention of concerned authorities is that the funds collected in the name of sports should be spent in the right channel instead of diverting them elsewhere.
Efforts should be made from the scratch, as schools and colleges, form the base and if rectified, Pakistan can again climb to the top of the ladder in the world of sports.
