Ministry of Youth and Sports senior sports officer Jone Koroitamana revealed that physical education programme is not active in schools around the country.

He made the comment at the National Sporting Organisations conference ‘Sports the Engine of Change’ at the Harbour Point Convention Centre in Lami yesterday.

“It was highlighted during our consultation with the NSO (National Sporting Orgnaisation) between the two divisions West and North,” Koroitamana said.

“We need to work with the relevant ministries where the schools are under.”

He said they received recommendations from the consultation to improve the delivery of universities in producing students with the required qualification to teach physical education.

“What was also recommended is that we need to include the sports, the physical part especially with the programmes that are part of the NSO’s in terms of development.,” he said.

Fiji National Sports Commission (FNSP) sports development officer Joji Liga said they have educated teachers on how to coach sports to be accredited coaches in their respective schools through the ‘Train the Trainers’ programme.

“We saw that the issue in the lack of PE (physical education) teachers in school for years,” he said.

“Through our Educate the Educator programme, we are bringing a lot of sports to conduct accreditation training for teachers so they can be volleyball, cricket, athletics and rugby coaches.”

Liga said it is their approach to bridge the gap in the school system by running the Educate the Educator programme.

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