Promoting Sports for All Through Sharing Facilities
14 January 2018
2017 was a fruitful year for Hong Kong sports. Our athletes put up performances of a high standard and shined in international competitions, setting new records for our city in bowling, swimming, fencing, snooker, squash, table tennis, boxing, cycling, track events, windsurfing and badminton, and delivering further proof of our sport sector’s strengths and potential. I believe that they have made every of us in Hong Kong proud and elated.
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government actively promotes and supports the holistic development of sports. The Five-Year Plan for Sports and Recreation Facilities, a noteworthy initiative, is now progressing at good pace. With an appropriation of $20 billion, 26 projects will be launched progressively in the coming five years to significantly increase and improve district sports and recreation facilities in order to meet public demand and promote sports for all in the community.
The plan involves 54 facilities, namely two sports grounds, nine football pitches, one sports centre, four swimming pool complexes, two lawn bowling greens, one cycling ground, four tennis courts, 11 outdoor basketball courts and 20 open spaces.
Besides, technical feasibility study will be conducted for 15 projects for sports and recreation facilities to be developed across the territory, including the redevelopment of Hong Kong Stadium and the sport complex project at Whitehead, Ma On Shan.
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The Kai Tak Sports Park is another highly anticipated project. Tendering exercise is underway, with construction works expected to commence in the second half of 2018 and be completed between 2022 and 2023. Set to be the largest world-class integrated sports facility of our city, the sports park will serve as a spectacular highlight to attract more international sports events and competitions to Hong Kong, and help to promote sports in the community, support elite sports and maintain Hong Kong as a centre for major international sports events.
As well as providing more and better sports and recreation facilities in the near future, we need to think about how to utilise our limited land space and existing facilities to provide more sports venues with broader catchment areas. Just imagine if people can do exercise at weekends or holidays in schools near their homes. It will be not only a convenience for the residents, but also a way to optimise the use of venues. While helping to foster a sense of belonging to their districts in the public, this will certainly be a good idea to promote sports for all in a more effective way.
The concept of “sharing sports facilities” is exactly a new way out towards this development direction. Starting from the 2017/18 academic year, the Education Bureau (EDB) and the Home Affairs Bureau (HAB) have launched the “Opening up School Facilities for Promotion of Sports Development Scheme” (the Scheme) to encourage public sector schools to open up facilities such as playgrounds and activity rooms for outside sports associations to hold sports activities.
Under the Scheme, apart from levying charges according to the prevailing guidelines issued by EDB on hire of school facilities, public sector schools hiring out facilities to recognised sports associations may receive a subsidy from EDB and HAB to hire extra manpower, defray additional utility costs, strengthen management and security or carry out minor repair works.
In the 2017/18 academic year, a participating school will be given a subsidy of $20,000 for the first sports programme and a provision of $15,000 per programme for subsequent ones, up to a maximum of $80,000 per school per academic year.
The implementation of the Scheme has been progressing well. EDB invited applications from public sector schools in June last year to participate in the Scheme. At this stage, about 30 squad training programmes, young athletes training programmes and district sports activities will be conducted in schools in the 2017/18 academic year, involving ten sports associations as organisers, covering 11 types of sports and benefiting nearly 800 persons.
Last November, EDB invited public sector schools to submit the second round of applications for the current academic year. The positive response was encouraging. So far more than 130 public sector schools have indicated interest to open up their school facilities to sports associations in the two rounds of applications under the Scheme. They comprise about 70 secondary schools and 60 primary schools across the 18 districts of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and New Territories. Forty-eight of them are government schools located in 16 districts, showing a positive lead given by the Government.
HAB is processing the second round of hiring applications submitted by sports associations for the 2017/18 academic year. National Sports Associations and their affiliated clubs, District Sports Associations and other eligible sports associations, if interested, should submit the “Application for Hiring of School Facilities by Sports Association” to EDB by 7 February. They are also encouraged to contact the schools directly for details of the facilities available.
The Government has all along encouraged schools to open up their facilities to outside organisations as a means to foster school-community collaboration. While only public sector schools are invited to join the Scheme in this academic year, some Direct Subsidy Scheme schools have also opened up their facilities to sports associations. The W F Joseph Lee Primary School in Tin Shui Wai is a good example. The school has opened up its 25-metre swimming pool to sports associations for non-profit making activities since last year to put the concept of sharing community resources into action.
EDB and HAB will collect views from participating public sector schools and sports associations in order to further enhance the Scheme. One proposal under consideration by EDB is extending the scope to cover Direct Subsidy Scheme schools in the next academic year with a view to furthering the practice of sharing sports facilities and enabling the wider use of school facilities for sports events.
The measure promises a “three-win” effect in that a stronger sporting culture in schools, closer school-community collaboration and the optimal use of space to promote sports for all can be achieved.
This concept of “sharing” also embodies the essence of a collaborative and inclusive society. Through the tripartite effort of the community, the Government and the schools, this innovative measure enables the best use of social resources and facilities to achieve public good with the support of various bureaux and departments.
