DOHA: Sports facilities in schools in Qatar will soon be open to the public in the evening hours.
Rabia Mohammed Al Kaabi, undersecretary at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, said that discussions are going on between the ministry and the Ministry of Culture and Sports for making sports facilities at schools accessible to the public and residents of the respective areas, after the school working hours.
He added that the two ministries will soon sign a memorandum of understanding in this regard. He hinted that the beneficiaries will be mostly children and families.
Al Kaabi was speaking on the sidelines of the National Sport Day (NSD) activities held by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education yesterday, Qatar News Agency reported yesterday. The agreement will seek safe use of the facilities. The two ministries will work together with support of the Qatar Olympic committee to disseminate the culture of sports in the Qatari community, said the official.
Many Qatari and expatriate families are interested to practice sports and opening school sports facilities to them in the evenings will help achieve this goal, especially for women and children, said Al Kaabi.
The move follows a proposal on these lines by a seminar involving academics held by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education ahead of the National Sport Day.
A large number of students, parents, teachers and administrative staff of the Independent schools as well as employees of the ministry attended the Sport Day activities held at five venues.
“We in the GCC states suffer from obesity and low level of physical fitness. This gives importance of this event. It is better to have daily sports activities according to the age and health condition of each person, instead of limiting such activities to a single day,” said Al Kaabi.
The Peninsula
