No sports, games in most schools

Most schools offer no sports activities to their students in gross violation of the national education and sports policies.
The government also stands accused of flouting both the policies.
The national sports policy require the schools to nurture their students’ dormant sporting talents.
In cities and towns schools lack playgrounds for which they can no more hold even annual sporting meets.
Some of the schools are seen holding annual sports meets on rented playgrounds. 
In the countryside also schools offer no games and sport to their students, not for shortage of playground but because they cannot afford the equipment for games and sport, said academicians.
Sport is universally considered as positive pursuit that foster physical and mental growth of the learners.
Sport teaches learners to compete and accept defeat in positive strides.
Sport fosters friendship and mutual respect.
Schools across the nation barring some exceptions made sport an agenda of the past.
School authorities feel happy only if they could organize annual sport meets, said academicians.
Lack of interest of teachers and parents about games and sports is also responsible for the state of affairs, said sports officials as well as the academicians.
Bangladesh fell even behind its South Asian neighbours in track and field events as well as games only because regular sporting activities and games had been banished from schools across the country, Bangladesh Olympic Association secretary general Syed Shahed Reza told New Age.
Result oriented schooling has placed sports and games on the back burner, said Reza as well as National Education Policy 2010 formulation committee co-chair Qazi Kholiquzzaman, Campaign for Popular Education executive director Rasheda K Choudhury.
No wonder, riverine Bangladesh failed to produce a single swimmers to win a medal in any Olympic event, said academicians. 
Parents and teachers generally madly push students to chase GPA five, they said. 
Reza said that the nation had been failing to develop dormant sporting talent of leaners as its schools neglect regular sporting activities.
Educationists said that the ground realities contradict the Nation Education Policy which stresses on providing co- curricular activities for the learners at schools.
They said that the practice in schools also seeks to make the National Sports Policy 1998 a hollow document with regard to its stress on making schools cradles for players and sportsmen and women.
Several class ten students of Queens College at Mohammadpur in the capital said their annual sports take place on rented playground as there is no playground on their campus.
Secondary and higher education directorate officials could not say how many schools offer regular sporting facilities to their students as co- curricular pursuits as the education policy and the sports policy of the government requires. 
The upshot is that schools can no more send students to participate in sporting competitions and training programmes arranged by the government, alleged officials.
Asked about the state of co-curricular activities in the country, director general of secondary and higher education SM Wahiduzamman advised New Age to get the picture from deputy director of physical education Farhana Haque.
Farhana said that around 70 per cent of the schools and madrassahs in the country usually skip sports competitions arranged by DSHE twice a year though participation is mandatory for them. 
No action can be taken against the noncompliant schools and madrassah due to their sheer number, she said.
Out of 1.25 crore secondary school and madrassahs students barely five lakh take part in the summer and winter sports competitions organized by the government every year. 
Authorities of many schools avoid sending students to sports competitions out of fears that their results in exams would fall’ she said. 
The government’s sports directorate officials said that they provide training to about 8,000 to 9,000 students every year on different events. 
They said that on demand sports equipment are provided to 4,000 schools and 1,000 clubs.
They find it amazing that about 80 per cent of the schools and madrassahs across the country show no interest in taking these free equipment.
They put the total number of schools and madrassahs across the nation at 29,000.
They said schools were reluctant to send students to the training programmes considering it as waste of time.
A Bangladesh Tennis Federation official said that many schools do not want them provide lawn tennis training on their campuses citing the same reason though the students show huge interest. 
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