JOHOR BARU: The 11 sport events axed from the Malaysian Schools Sports Council (MSSM) calendar have been re-instated. Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced this morning that the ministry had agreed to allocate a fund of RM89 million for sporting and co-curriculum events in schools that will also cover the 11 events.

"This will ensure that all 24 sport events under the MSSM calender can continue to be held for all categories of age, despite the economy yet to fully recover," he said at the ground-breaking ceremony of the Educity@Iskandar stadium and sports complex in Bandar Nusajaya here.

"Among the 24 sports are bowling, squash, archery, table tennis, rugby, cricket, sailing, softball, handball, cross-country and chess."

The deputy prime minister's announcement puts an end to the saga that had infuriated many, prompting an irate parent setting up a "Save Malaysian Schools’ Sports and Malaysian Sports Future" group on Facebook..

The Malay Mail had reported that talk of the 11 sports being sidelined had surfaced after top officials from the Education Ministry and its representatives from the States met in Kota Kinabalu for a meeting in December.

In our report headlined "Ministry Deny Sidelining Sports at MSSM level" on Jan 8, The Paper That Cares had quoted Sports, Arts and Co-curriculum department director Jame@Maikal Alip as saying that the “running of sports at the lower levels, mainly zones and districts, will not be disrupted”.

The Malay Mail had then learnt that the MSSM’s budget had been slashed from RM6.5 to RM1.5million, causing the 11 sports — bowling, squash, archery, table tennis, rugby, cricket, sailing, softball, handball, cross-country and chess – to be sidelined.

This had become an issue as the ministry had allocated RM5.5 million for the Asean Schools Championships scheduled for July 12-21 in KL.

The Paper That Cares, in our article on Jan 25, had learnt that the States had opted against hosting the 11 sports at the lower levels, including the Under-15 category, claiming that their grants had been slashed as well.

It had been reported that the States Schools Sports Councils would only allow the sports to be organised if their respective technical officials could scout for funds.

This had prompted some teachers to send their students on a donation drive for money.

On Jan 26, Sports Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek had said the cost-cutting measure was in line with the “government’s policy of tightening expenditure”.

On Feb 1, The Malay Mail had reported that parents, former school athletes and sports officers in Penang had requested that the authorities reinstate the 11 sports and Under-15 events at the State level.