Edwin Naidu
THE DBE and the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC) organised a two-day Sports Indaba to engage representatives of teacher unions, sports federations, international bodies and governments on the future of the School Sports Programme in South Africa.
The Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Zizi Kodwa, officially addressed the Indaba at Birchwood Hotel and OR Tambo Conference Centre on 14 September 2023. The DBE and the DSAC have identified the school sports programme as one of the critical levers to unleash sporting talents amongst learners at various phases of the schooling system.
The Indaba was intended to unify the school sports sector and to develop a national programme for South Africa, benchmarked against the world’s most influential school sports programmes.
The Indaba further acknowledged the Government’s focus on grassroots sports development through early identification and nurturing of sporting talent in education.
Briefing the Indaba on the strides made by the DBE and the DSAC in terms of implementing the school sports programme, Sifiso Ngobese, Director for Sport and Enrichment in Education, said that the two departments have produced a draft implementation protocol, which focuses on 22 areas of cooperation.
Physical Education is one of the vital areas of school sports currently offered as part of Life Orientation/Life Skills, a compulsory curriculum offering.
Capacity-building programmes are also organised to support teachers and subject specialists with gaps identified in research reports. Although the two departments have successfully conducted sporting activities in schools ranging from Autumn to Summer Games, more is needed to promote mass participation in school sports.
The Indaba deliberated structured capacity-building programmes for teachers and the need to support teachers in implementing Physical Education.
In his address, Kodwa reminded the Indaba that in November 2011, sports luminaries, activists, leaders, and administrators gathered at Gallagher Estate to chart a new way to transform South African sport.
“For South Africa to realise the dream of a non-racial, non-sexist, equal, and democratic society, we needed the agency to design and implement a system predicated on a philosophy of, among other dimensions outlined in the Transformation Charter: the provision of sports infrastructure and facilities; breaking barriers to access; increasing participation; and promoting representation and equity. Over a decade has passed since 2011, and we gather here to take stock of the road travelled since adopting the National School Sports Programme”.
Kodwa added, “According to the EPG 2018 report, the School Sports competition system indicates three streams from which talent is identified and competition is staged: a Government-run school sport system; a model where former Model C schools and private schools compete and where most athletes are identified; and then there is a system which the Federations use to stage the tournaments and select national athletes.
He said this system currently needs to be integrated and has challenges. The athletes competing in the Government-run school sports system are from 23,000 public schools, most of which are previously disadvantaged with poor or no sports facilities and no proper coaching support. The second group are athletes from the former Model-C schools, including private schools, which are adequately resourced with world-class sports facilities and proper coaching support.
“As part of the Indaba, we must review and assess the School Sport Programme to map a way forward on policy directives to determine the role and responsibilities of various stakeholders to lay the foundation for reviewing the National Sport and Recreation Plan,” he said.
INSIDE EDUCATION
