By
Abubakar Baba Ahmad
Game Masters, Sports Desk Officers and other stakeholders in the basic education sector have been urged to support the development of sporting activities in schools towards improving enrolment, retention as well as teaching and learning outcomes across Bauchi State.
The Executive Chairman State Universal Basic Education Board SUBEB Alhaji Abubakar Isa made the call at the commencement of a 3-day Capacity building Workshop for Sport Desk Officers and Game Masters from 11 LGAs in Bauchi South and Central zones organised in collaboration with Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC held at Bauchi Centre.
The training at Bauchi centre with Local governments to include Alkaleri, Bauchi, Bogoro, Dass, Ganjuwa, Ningi, Tafawa Balewa, Toro, Kirfi and Warji and Darazo, has as theme; the Role of Basic Education Schools in Sports: A guide for LGA Sports Desk Officers and Game Masters in Bauchi State.
Alhaji Abubakar Isa represented by the Director School Services Malam Zuhairu Usman called for support from community leaders, sports enthusiasts, and parents in the procurement of sports facilities such as balls, nets, jerseys, boots among others to boost enrolment and learning outcomes.
While calling on the participants to keep politics aside in the selection of children for sporting competitions, the Executive Chairman expressed worry over the poor participation of females across various sports.
“Please don’t try to play politics in selecting your players, let’s encourage all of them from anywhere to participate in training to select the best in performance. Allow those from remote areas to participate to ensure inclusion. Select players based on performance and training should be continuous not after competition you relax until another tournament before preparations begin”, the SUBEB Chairman cautions.
Also Speaking, an Official of the Sports Unit of the board, Isma’il Aliyu said the training which seeks to equip sports officers with the new sporting rules and techniques is taking place simultaneously in two centres of Bauchi and Azare with a total of 100 participants across all the 20 LGAs of the state.
“Most of the trainees are not aware of the new techniques that have evolved, we brought Masters from the sporting field to give them the new knowledge and that is the essence – to build their capacity on sporting activities”, Isma’il Aliyu notes.
Isma’il Aliyu expressed optimism that the new techniques would help them in equipping their pupils/students with better skills in sporting activities like Football, Chess, Athletics, Table tennis, Volleyball, Handball and Inter-school Sports for primary, secondary schools and grassroots development.
