- The Committee’s focus is to prepare a database containing sports information of school children.
Two sub-committees were appointed by the Ministerial Consultative Committee on Youth Affairs and Sports to promote sports and youth activities in the country.
Accordingly, the Honorable Members of the Committee, Attorney-at-Law Nilanthi Kottahachchi, Ruwan Mapalagama, Mailwaganam Jegadeswaran, Attorney-at-Law Hiruni Wijesinghe, were appointed as members of the Committee for Sports. Similarly, the Honorable Members of the Committee, Lasith Bhashana Gamage, Dinindu Saman, and Kosala Nuwan Jayaweera, were appointed as members of the Committee for Youth Affairs. Other members of parliament were given the opportunity to join the sub-committees on their own initiative.
The sub-committees were appointed when the Ministerial Consultative Committee on Youth Affairs and Sports met for the first time in Parliament on the 19th under the chairmanship of the Hon. Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Sunil Kumara Gamage. The Hon. Deputy Minister of Youth Affairs, Eranga Gunasekara, was also present on this occasion.
The Hon. members of parliament presented the problems existing in sports and youth affairs across the island and proposals to strengthen those sectors. The Hon. members emphasized that the interest shown by children in sports in the Northern and Eastern provinces as well as in the hills was not at an optimal level and due to this, there was a tendency for them to resort to anti-social activities. Therefore, the need for an awareness-based program to encourage children to engage in sports was also discussed.
Speaking at the event, the Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Minister Sunil Kumara Gamage, pointed out that sports are a powerful factor in creating national unity in the country and pointed out that there are problems related to sports in all provinces of the country. The Chairman of the Committee said that the Ministry should be informed in writing about the various problems related to sports and that the Ministry will intervene and take necessary measures to resolve all the problems for the development of sports in the country. The Chairman of the Committee further emphasized that a program is being implemented to identify corruption and irregularities committed under the guise of developing sports in the country and take relevant action.
The Committee also discussed the lack of information in one system that identifies the sports abilities of school children from an early age. Accordingly, the Committee Chairman emphasized the importance of having that information in one system and pointed out that a software engineer has already voluntarily started work on creating a data collection system.
Also, speaking on youth affairs, the Honorable Members presented facts about the corruption and irregularities that have occurred in the National Youth Services Council. Accordingly, the importance of taking action in this regard was also emphasized.
Meanwhile, although the annual report of the National Youth Services Council for the year 2022 had been submitted to the Committee for approval, it was decided to consider the report again in the Committee in the future as time was needed to study the report.
Honorable Ministers, Honorable Deputy Ministers, Honorable Members of the Committee, other Members of the Council, officials of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, and a group of people participated in this Committee meeting.
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