Task team recommends streamlining of school sports
Dissolution of BISA and BOPSSA mooted
If recommendations made by the Joint Task Force Team on the review of School Sport can be realized, Botswana Integrated Sports Association and Botswana Primary School Sport Associations ( BOPSSA) will be dismantled.
According to an 85 page long report compiled by the team, there is need to institute a single National School Sport Governing Body that regional bodies will affiliate to and deliver school sport. This will be done in order to streamline operations, reduce duplications, improve efficiency and reduce costs associated with delivering school sports. “BISA and BOPSSA need to become one umbrella body, and have a new school sports national governing body that operates on a full- time basis,” reads the report.
The report says it is of paramount significance that there is a structure that is responsible for managing and organizing school sports competitions. Instead of delegating national associations so that there is no disparity in the quality and experience of competitions for learners. The governing body, they say, should become an affiliate of both the Botswana National Sports Commission ( BNSC) and Botswana National Olympic Committee ( BNOC). Then affiliation/ membership should be of zonal representation instead of schools directly affiliating to the national governing body of school sports. Schools will then affiliate to their respective zonal structures.
The governing body needs to be well- resourced and eventually operate on a full- time basis, with dedicated personnel because of the magnitude and importance of school sports in the sport development continuum. The governing body should also seek supplementary funding and partner with the private sector for long- term sustainability. They anticipate that with a dedicated office, service delivery will be improved to accord learners with improved quality of services in terms of organization of competitions.