Department of sports and sad state of PE

In keeping with tradition, at the start of a new year, commentators and opinion makers roll out their wish lists for 2012. The sports community is no exception. Various prescriptions are offered on how to make Philippine sports more competitive in terms of our athletes winning more gold medals in Olympic competitive sports. A lot, if not most, of the prescriptions are tactical. Very little however is said about strategic interventions that strike at the core of the problem: the low status of Physical Education (PE) in the Philippines, which is reflective of the situation in Asia, if not most of the world.

Three years ago, we had the privilege of contributing a paper entitled “Physical Education and School Sports in the Philippines: A Historical Point of View”, for a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) publication entitled “Innovative Practices in Physical Education and Sports in Asia”. The paper, which eventually became Chapter Three in the UNESCO publication, discussed the role of physical education in building peace among the youth. The other chapters in the publication provided an overview of physical education and sports within Asian school settings through five case studies from Malaysia, the People’s Republic of China, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Singapore and the Philippines.

The basic conclusion is: countries, the Philippines included, do not value physical education and sports especially as a means to galvanize society towards a common goal just as Nelson Mandela did in South Africa.

The main impetus for UNESCO’s support for the publication is “the economic growth witnessed in many countries in Asia has led to significant changes in cultural and social practices. As people become more affluent, their lifestyles and habits reflect their shifting priorities and spending power. In general, people in urban Asia have grown more sedentary in tandem with greater technological advances that offer an escape from physical work and exercise. This trend has raised the concerns of educators who have noted a declining interest in physical education and sports in schools. Educational institutions play an important role in improving the health and well-being of their students especially through their physical education, sports and recreation (programs). Unfortunately, increasing demands from other curricular areas have resulted in a reduction in time allocation, budget and status for physical education and sports in schools.”

K. Hardman in 2005 wrote in “Global Vision of the Situation. Trends and Issues of Sport and Physical Education” that there was a decline or marginalization (of the subject of physical education in schools): “Deficiencies were apparent in curriculum, time allocation, subject status, materials, human and financial resources, gender and disability issues and quality and program delivery.” Leonard A. de Vries believes that 60% of the PE and sports programs in Asian schools suffer from low resources and deprived conditions because of, among others, important decisions on PE and sports are often made by government officials with no academic or professional qualifications in the discipline; and PE and sports are commonly considered as “play” rather than subjects that develop the “thinking” capacity.

Just how unimportant PE is viewed by academics with PhD’s or doctorates who manage schools which are supposed to be at the forefront of character and competence building can be seen in the following true to life anecdote. A former national athlete who teaches a business subject in the business department of the school found himself missing his classes to take care of an important international competition in Bicol. While, the teacher was admittedly at fault for not providing advance notice to the administration and to the students of the absences to be incurred, others in his department said that the international activity he was handling blended well with and complemented the practitioner-oriented thrust of both the department and the school.

The school’s top administrator did not see it that way. The administrator, probably in a moment of frustration (which however unmasked the administrator’s real feelings towards sports and physical education), said, “Why don’t you just teach PE?” The implication being, it’s alright for a teacher to be absent from PE classes without prior notice but not other subjects!

Creating therefore a Department of Sports (which should be studied very carefully) should not be regarded as the way to generate a ton of gold medals in international competitive sports (although that is a good morale booster and is certainly good international public relations) but rather for sports to be used in conjunction with the country’s overall economic development. This will entail a lot of integration and coordination with other departments such as Education, Interior and Local Government and National Defense. Activating the National Physical Fitness and Sports Development Councils down to the barangay level should be a first priority parallel to building a cadre of competent coaches and trainers with sports medicine and sports science background.