Wide Range of Sports CCA for Students

Dr Benedict Tan asked the Minister for Education what measures are in place to ensure that schools continue to offer sports CCAs that they may not excel in at the inter-school level.

Mr Heng Swee Keat: Co-Curricular Activities (CCAs) including sports CCAs, provide a natural platform for character development, whilst allowing students to pursue their talents and passion.

MOE does not set Key Performance Indicators for schools in CCAs. Schools had earlier been recognized for sustained performance in the aesthetics, uniformed groups, sports and academic domains, but these awards have since been removed to give more emphasis to best practices. In addition, with the revised co-curricular recognition system for students implemented from 2014's Secondary One cohort onwards, students are recognized for their balanced development in the co-curriculum. Under this new framework, students can receive recognition for a range of activities beyond CCA and the school. There is no necessity for students to win in competitions to achieve good co-curricular records.

Sports CCAs enjoy a rich tradition in schools, and we have on average, about 50 schools competing in each sport under the National School Games (NSG). For popular sports like Badminton, Basketball, Football and Netball, the average number of participating schools rises even further to about 100. This shows that schools do offer CCAs even when they do not excel in it. Beyond the 29 NSG sports, schools have also offered alternative sports CCAs to their students, even where there are no inter-school competitions. To date, we have more than 60 sports CCAs offered across all schools.

While schools endeavour to provide a good range of CCA offerings, it is not possible to offer every sport that students are interested in. In addition to CCAs, all students participate in sporting activities within the Physical Education (PE) programme, and they may also pursue sports in the community, as part of Sport Singapore’s activities.

MOE will continue to support schools to ensure that students have access to sporting opportunities.