Get your priority right BJSS!

Maybe it's time to re-look our policies for Sports Schools.

Till then, it may be in the interest of promising athletes to give it a miss.

Why? Ask Soong Joo Vern and Darren Isaac Devadas, for they had to quit Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) as the school was proving to be more of a hindrance than a supplement to their badminton careers.

Joo Vern and Darren took matters into their own hands after BJSS insisted they, along with Ho Yen Mei, should play in the Asean schools meet instead of the Asian Junior Championships (AJC) in South Korea.

Read Rajes Paul's commentary here.

Sadly Education Ministry Sports Director Ee Hong believes the school is right in doing so and that the Priority is the schools.

"We can't look at it that way. I see this as part of their development. It's a transition to play in the Asean level before progressing to the Asian level.It's only right they play for BJSS as they come from the school. It will allow Malaysia to showcase to the rest of the Southeast Asian countries that our sports schools are doing well," said Ee Hong

Do we have our priorities right?
Why is it that the Education Ministry's policy is that the schools be given priority instead of the country?
Why subject an athlete to a lower grade tournament instead of a much higher one?
Aren't the Sports Schools around to produce our next generation of athletes?

Those are questions to ponder.

I've heard that a certain sports school rejected a Form Five promising athlete a place in the school because it was already a SPM year for him and that the school didn't want their SPM stats to be affected.

Agreed, academic values should be instilled as well, but not at the expense of sports. To the school in concern, your KPI should be the talent you produce not SPM statisics.

I still feel Sports Schools should come under the purview of the Sports Ministry not the Education Ministry.

Click here to read previous posting on the matter. It's just another instance of a sports school being a hindrance.