Parliament approves 26 billion for school sports

Accra, Feb. 27, GNA - Government has sought approval from parliament to use a percentage of the GET Fund or school funding to promote and develop school sports.

An initial 26 billion cedis would be used annually, an improvement of the previous two billion cedis used. Mr O. B. Amoah, a Deputy Minister of Education and Sports told the The ministry is also in touch with the various missions to build the capacity of technical personnel to train and manage the talented athletes.

The Deputy Minister also hinted that arrangements were being made to assist athletes with scholarships to ease their burden and employ the services of experts to enhance their abilities.

Mr Amoah assured the nation that within the next two years; the country would have first class facilities with the completion of the three new stadia in Central, Western and Northern Regions and also the refurbishment of the Ohene Djan and Baba Yara Stadia in Accra and Kumasi respectively.

The nation-wide facility-drive according to Mr Amoah is to curb the migration of athletes from one region to the other in search of good facility and help absorb talents in each region.

He expressed the hope that by June, this year, tartan tracks at the El Wak Sports Stadium would be ready to host the final trials of local athletes and their foreign counterparts classified under category B to raise a winsome team for the All Africa Games in Mauritius. "With these facilities in place, it becomes much easier for us to better assess our sportsmen and sportswomen and also have a pool of talented athletes that we can fall on in the future," he told the GNA. 27 Feb. 06