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| July 22, 2005 | Friday | Jumadi-us-Sani 14, 1426 |
Cabinet approves National Sports Strategy
ISLAMABAD, July 21: The National Sports Strategy and some amendments in the sports policy were approved on Thursday by the Federal Cabinet. The aim of the strategy is to increase sporting activity with the main focus at the grassroots level. Its major aspect is that the district and tehsil governments earmark two percent of their budget for sports and that sport be made mandatory in schools and colleges.
Brig. Arif Mahmud Siddiqui, Director General of the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) expressed delight over the decision but said that implementation will hold the key to the success of the strategy.
“Obviously I am very happy, however the implementation in letter and spirit will be important.”
The strategy’s main area of focus is on educational institutions which will have to organise three to five games regularly with martial arts and athletics being mandatory.
The colleges (upto intermediate level) will be asked to take part in Inter-Board competitions and Youth Games which will be staged in the year when the National Games are not being held.
The strategy allows for all sports facilities run by the army to be made available to educational institutions while the universities will be told to develop their own infrastructure.
Scholarships in professional institutions for sportsmen who do well, induction of Madaris in sporting mainstream, attention to women’s sports and running of a sports channel by PTV as a pilot project also form part of the new strategy.
The Cabinet members who had gone through the recommendations earlier raised various questions relating to budget, infrastructure and participation of women in sports.
The subject sports channel also came up for discussion with the Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed assuring that something will be done in this regard.
A presentation of the strategy before President Gen Pervez Musharraf was first made in October last year by the head of the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA), Lt. Gen Syed Arif Hasan.
The president then directed the POA chief to seek views of the provinces before presenting it to the Cabinet for approval. Opinion of all the stakeholders were then sought.
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