Students in the Federal Capital were denied what could have been an important developmental activity when the Federal Directorate of Education skipped its annual inter-school sports competition.

The annual event which is part of the educational calendar has included cricket, hockey, basketball, football, Kabbadi and table tennis matches in previous years.

“I was looking forward to participating in interschool football competitions. I practiced for it but our teachers told us that this year there will be no inter-school sports activity,” said Abdullah Faiz, a student of seventh grade.

Due to a lack of sporting activities, play grounds in many schools are lying abandoned with weeds and bushes growing.

“The annual sports competition at school level was a healthy activity, but unfortunately this year no event could take place,” said Malik Ameer, a schoolteacher.

According to the FDE calendar, the annual sports competition was scheduled for last week of November but the event did not take place. “Unfortunately we missed the calendar activities due to lack of funding,” said Tahir Bhatti, a spokesman for FDE.

“FDE does not have any specifi c fund for sports. In the past, school heads used to collect sports funds from students, but last year the government barred schools from collecting any kind of fee from students,” he said.

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2014