(Special Consultant- Sports, Ministry of Education)

“I see a drop in the standards of Sports in schools. We don’t have a proper plan to guide students just out of school, which is the main reason for the drop in standards in schools Sports. But I must say, it is the opposite we see from the NSG, where new talent is emerging at school level. At the last All Island Schools Athletic Championship, 28 new records were established. But for these young Athletes to proceed further, there is no long term National plan. Hence, they drop out. In the 80’s, there was proper long term planning to guide Athletes such as Damayanthi Darsha, Sugath Thilakaratne, Rohan Pradeep Kumara, Sriyani Kulawansa and Susanthika Jayasinghes, who came out on top. Championships don’t mean the Sport has developed. Many talented Sports-persons drop out from Sports due to personal, financial and employment issues. We must have a good plan in place to protect young Sports-persons when they leave school. Only the Tri-Forces are able to offer them employment. We have an acute shortage of PTIs in schools. We recruited PTIs from 19851990, but no more since then. This situation has been clearly understood by Education Minister, Akila Viraj Kariyawasam. He plans to recruit 5,000 PTIs for all Sports in Sri Lanka. We intend recruiting a new batch of PTIs who have excelled in their respective field of sport, and send them to schools in 2017. We also intend to amend the age groups from next year. We must definitely follow the International age limits and not age limits of our own. The issue is an Under (U)-19 student participating in an international tournament where the age limit is U-20 or U-21, then, we again need to have a qualification round for selection. School Associations cannot hold tournaments according to their whims and fancies. They must get down the international calendar of sporting events and get it endorsed by the Education Ministry. This is to avoid clashing with national sporting events such as the Mahaweli Games, NSG, National Sports Festival, Youth Games and National Championships. The plan is to have the same era we witnessed in the 80’s. The new Minister is piloting this process.”