Newspaper clipping – iol online – 11 August 2010

Stofile urges schools to get kids moving

Physical education needs to be brought back into the curriculum of South African schools, Sport and Recreation Minister Makhenkesi Stofile said on Wednesday.
“We must also work hard to develop proper strategies to get physical education back into the curriculum of our schools,” he said at the opening of the Sports and Recreation South Africa conference in Durban.

He said physical education died in the 1960s in the country and had been difficult to revive. The standard was now at its worst and he suggested creating a government department to solve the problem.
“The most important and practical [solution] is for the department of basic education to establish a fully fledged directorate of physical education. It must be the department that is the custodian of the children.”

The involvement of children in sport built federations and community clubs, which would supply quality athletes.
“We note with great sadness the apathy displayed by some teachers in our time. We must all join hands in developing strategies to get teachers back in sport.”

He congratulated athlete Caster Semenya for her patience while the International Association of Athletics Federations was finalizing her gender tests.
  “We must congratulate Ms Semenya on her patience and disciplined way in dealing with the case.” - Sapa