MSSC want more hours for PE class

03/07/1997

THE Malaysian Schools Sports Council (MSSC) are pressing for more hours
for Physical Education (PE) in schools.
They have sent in a proposal to Deputy Education Minister Datuk Khalid
Yunus to do away with the present practice of combining PE with the
Kesihatan (health) classroom subject.
"Right now it is called the Pendidikan Jasmani dan Kesihatan (physical
education and health) and the students are required to exercise and play
games one week while the next week it is a classroom subject," said MSSC
director Ahmad Othman.
"This arrangement is not conducive if we want to see schools produce
more good athletes. That is why we want more time for PE and the only way
to do that is to make Kesihatan a subject of its own."
Reactions from PE teachers from various schools, who refused to be
named, appeared to be mixed.
"It is a good move because right now, PE is not taken seriously and more
attention is on the classroom subject since they are tested in the
mid-year examinations," said a teacher in Ampang, Selangor.
"And the week when PE is taught, many students don't even bring shorts
and T-shirts to play games. If it is a separate subject, more attention
can be devoted to arrest this problem.
"Although extra-curricular activities are carried out in the evenings
only a handful turn up because most have to attend tuition classes while
some students live too far away to make the return journey.
"Only those who are really keen bother to return to school in the
evenings and practice for inter-schools and inter-district sports
competitions.
"If we have more time during school, I believe there will be a bigger
pool of athletes to select from."
A PE teacher in Petaling Jaya thinks it is a bad move.
"As it is, the time-table is quite congested. I don't think there is
enough time or experienced teachers to go around if PE and health are
separated," she said.
The 39th Malaysian Schools Sports Council (MSSC) athletic meet will be
held on July 19-22 in Kangar, Perlis.
This means the local meet, which was to have served as a selection
platform for the Asean Schools Athletics Championships in Penang on July
7-11, will be held after the Asean meet and MSSM have had to conduct
special selections for Penang.
"We had to resort to this because of the World Youth Cup Finals," said
MSSC director Ahmad Othman.
"Although the normal practice is that athletes who excel in the local
meets are selected for the Asean meet we had to resort to special
selections because the Utama Stadium Kangar was picked to host the first
round of the Cup."
Kangar hosted the Group E matches which involved Argentina, Hungary,
Australia and Canada.
Meanwhile, Perlis assistant director of education Sulaiman Ismail said
yesterday that there will be changes in the MSSC athletics meet this year.
"We have decided to do away with the Under-16 and Under-20 categories
and replaced them with the Under-15 and the Under-18 instead," said
Sulaiman.
(END)