Encouraging More Schools to Let Students Who Are Not on School Teams Participate in Sports Tournaments

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Ms Hany Soh, Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC

Question

To ask the Minister for Education whether the Ministry will consider encouraging more schools to introduce games similar to the "Glory and Grit 7s" where players who are not on school teams for various sports are also given the opportunity to participate in tournaments.

Response

1. We want to give all our students the opportunity to participate meaningfully in sports in our schools. This includes students who are not on official school sports teams.

2. Our schools do this by providing opportunities for students to participate in school-based sporting competitions such as inter-class games, and external sporting competitions such as those organised by ActiveSG and the National Sports Associations. In 2023 alone, more than 27,000 students participated in external sporting competitions across a wide range of sports – from basketball leagues to swimming championships. Almost half of these students were not part of official school teams. These competitions provide additional platforms for students of different skill levels to compete and develop their sporting interests.

4. We welcome school-initiated programmes like the "Glory and Grit 7s" tournament. Schools may also adopt other approaches that serve their context better, for example, by working with sports organisations to provide more competition opportunities for students who are passionate about sports.