Learners lose out as school sport gets caught up in politics, writes Sean O’Connor
Sport presents a host of developmental, social and other opportunities, especially since the professional era. Whether playing beach soccer or moving chess pieces, the adrenalin surges, people communicate and communities are built. Sport makes us feel good. And at school, learners lucky enough to have sports facilities often use them to develop the confidence they don’t find in the classroom.
Yet at many schools, sport is a dream reduced to kicking wads of plastic packets around or playing catch during break. A recent survey by the Education Foundation, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and Markdata found that well over a third of the country’s schools have no sports facilities at all.
In addition, there is a shortage of coaching staff, even where facilities do exist. So where does the responsibility for school sport lie? The answer depends on which province you’re in.
In some provinces, school sport falls under the jurisdiction of the Education Department, in others under Sport and Recreation South Africa, formerly the Department of Sport and Recreation. Neither side has taken enough responsibility for much to be developed in schools since 1994.
These two departments finally commissioned a joint draft policy in 2000, “for rapid implementation,” according to the Director-General of Education, Thami Mseleku. Draft policy emphasises mass participation and equity, and can be seen as an extension of the Values in Education initiative launched recently.
Both the Department of Education and the Department of Sport and Recreation SA have now agreed upon a model of shared responsibility for school sport. Even though the process is being driven by Education, according to Mseleku, one feels that sport per se will fall far too low on their long list of priorities.
Facilities and coaching staff remain the nuts-and bolts issues that need action. And right now, those are the sole responsibility of school governing bodies.
Education policy states that parents in school governing bodies “are responsible for the maintenance and provision of sport facilities at schools,” according to Mseleku. “The parent body can decide on the sports to be offered and the level to which they will be played,” he says. “They will be intrinsically involved in planning and managing all extra-curricular, intra-school and inter-school physical recreation activities and school sport.” The task team that worked on draft policy are likely to become an active subcommittee with an interprovincial and interdepartmental character.
They will expand their frame of reference to include national associations of school governing bodies, the SA Sports Commission, Disability Sport SA, national representatives of bodies representing sporting codes such as USSASA, the National Arts Council, cultural organisations and sponsors.
According to Mseleku, the “intensive consultation” that the subcommittee will enter into “could be time consuming and particularly complex”. Mseleku add that “because of cabinet processes and Medium-Term Expenditure Framework budgeting requirements, it may take until the end of 2001 before all the required processes have been followed. It is possible for phased implementation to commence in the 2002/2003 financial year”. The delay has caused despair among members of the sporting fraternity. Amien Darcy, the deputy national president of USSASA, the body responsible for organising inter-school sport, said that sport “is the catalyst that keeps our children at school. We’ve all been waiting for a long time for some action, for some guidance. And in the meantime our children are neglected”.
According to the model that the ministers agreed upon last year, the Education Department will take responsibility for physical education, while Sport and Recreation SA will administer school sport at national and international levels.
The provincial Department of Education will oversee inter-school sport, while regional and inter-regional competition will be the combined responsibility of the provincial departments of sport and education.
Ultimately, school governing bodies should be proactive when it comes to sport. They should actively seek private sector partnerships and funding for their facilities, and try to forge partnership programmes for coach development. Community relationships are also vital for school sport to get out of the starting blocks.
– The Teacher/M&G Media, Johannesburg, November 2001.