Resumption of In-person Co-curricular Activities and Varying Group Sizes for Team Sports Training in Schools
Ministry of EducationSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns the resumption of in-person co-curricular activities (CCAs) and the modification of team sports formats to facilitate school training and competitions. Mr Christopher de Souza asked about plans for restarting activities like uniformed groups and whether sports could resume with smaller group sizes. Minister Chan Chun Sing responded that secondary and pre-university CCAs resumed in November 2021, with modified formats like four-a-side hockey planned for the 2022 National School Games. He highlighted a pilot allowing training in groups of ten, while noting that primary schools will adopt a more cautious approach for inter-school events due to vaccination status.
Transcript
24 Mr Christopher de Souza asked the Minister for Education whether variations can be made to group sizes of team sports CCAs so as to allow for the resumption of these activities, such as training in groups of five and playing five-a-side instead of eleven-a-side for team sports, such as hockey and football.
25 Mr Christopher de Souza asked the Minister for Education (a) whether there are plans for the resumption of in-person co-curricular activities (CCAs) in schools, such as uniformed groups and school military bands; and (b) whether inter-school competitions in respect of these CCAs can resume in 2022.
Mr Chan Chun Sing: In-person co-curricular activities (CCAs) have resumed since 10 November 2021 for Secondary schools, Junior Colleges and Centralised Institute (Sec/JCCI) with safe management measures (SMM) aligned to the national posture. These include CCAs from all four categories: (a) uniformed groups; (b) physical sports; (c) visual and performing arts; (d) club and societies.
With the resumption of CCA training sessions within SMMs, there are plans to resume related events, such as the National School Games (NSG) and the Singapore Youth Festival Arts Presentation (SYF AP) for Sec/JCCI students in 2022. For team sports CCAs, variations will be made to group sizes by modifying the games format for CCA trainings and NSG competitions. For example, hockey can be modified and played as a four-a-side competition instead of the usual eleven-a-side game. The modifications will provide student athletes with good development opportunities and competition experience while ensuring their safety and well-being. As part of a pilot since 10 November 2021, some Sec/JCCIs have resumed team sports CCA training in groups of a maximum of 10 participants, allowing students to start their preparations for the modified games format in NSG competitions.
For Primary schools, although in-person CCA can resume from 4 January 2022, MOE will take a more cautious approach when planning to resume NSG and other inter-school events, in view of the students’ vaccination status.