Ministry: We will check the rot

02/11/2001

THE Education Ministry yesterday promised to check the slide in schools
sports and produce athletes who will excel at world championships and in
the Olympics.
Its director-general Datuk Abdul Rafie Mahat, after officiating at the
Bukit Jalil Sports School's awards ceremony yesterday, said towards this
cause, the Sports and Education Ministries have combined forces and formed
five committees after getting the Cabinet's endorsement in August.
"The five committees have been entrusted to take schools sports to a
higher level. They will find out what is wrong with the current system and
come out with solutions to arrest the situation fast," said Abdul Rafie.
Among the matters the committee will look into first are to widen the
base of sports, improve on current facilities and equipment distribution,
intensify traning, and improve the management of athletes at school level.
"We have been implementing this principle at the Bukit Jalil Sports
School and the results have been steadily improving. Since the school was
established in 1996, BJSS students have done the country proud by winning
two gold medals at the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games; seven gold,
seven silver and three bronze medals at the 1999 Brunei Sea Games and at
the Sydney Olympics, seven BJSS athletes saw action but did not win any
medals.
"And BJSS' latest achievement is winning 28 gold, 15 silver and 14
bronze medals at the Kuala Lumpur Sea Games."
But the goal right now is not the Sea Games, but the world championships
and the Olympics.
"We are working to produce athletes who can win medals at the highest
level in sports which is the Olympics. The school system can only be
called a success when our athletes win medals regularly at that level,"
said Abdul Rafie.
Admission to BJSS and Bandar Penawar Sports Schools is much sought after
because they have started producing students with all-round capabilities.
"I was told that about 50,000 students from every state in Malaysia are
eligible to apply for the sports schools but we have stringent selection
criteria and only take in about 120 students for BJSS and about 200 for
Bandar Penawar.
"And to train and educate one student at the sports school, RM3,500 is
needed per-year. So just the food bill for a year for both schools, 550
BJSS students and 440 Bandar Penawar students, comes up to about 3.5
million a year.
"This is a huge investment for the betterment of sport but the
government does not mind spending now, because the results are sure to
come in a few year's time," said Abdul Rafie.
The students in BJSS are also benefitting from being in the Bukit Jalil
Sports Complex.
"We have the best facilities in the world at our doorstep and the
National Sports Council has been very supportive whenever we want to book
any stadium for training," said BJSS headmaster Jalaudin Othman.
While the sports schools have been doing well, the same can't be said
about some of the schools in Malaysia where sport is almost extinct. jugjet@nstp.com.my
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