Kofi Adams, Minister Designate for Sports and Recreation has stated that the Ghana Education Trust (GET) Fund will be essential to the development of promoting sports at the educational level.
As stated by him, the sports sector during his tenure will delve into empowering grassroot sports especially the school sports.
In recent years, Sports at the junior high and senior high schools played significant roles in nurturing young talents, with players and athletes such as Asamoah Gyan, Michael Essien and Benjamin Azamati being unearthed through colts, inter schools football and athletics competitions.
However, grassroots, colts football and athletics in our various schools which have been overlooked and underfunded in recent years, will see its rise under Adams leadership as he will meet and enter into an agreement with the Ministry of Education to revive and infuse new life into it.
"We need to go back to the grassroots sports in terms of the academics, the school sports, we need to begin to look at it," he told Joy Sports.
"I will be sitting with my colleague Minister for Education once I get confirmed, for us to see how we can re-introduce school sports and get the sports Ministry to run School sports while GES [Ghana Education Service] continues to teach the Physical Education as a subject in the classroom but in terms of School Sports, the Sports Ministry can take up that responsibility and we will engage and see how a portion of the GETFUND can be allocated into a sports fund to fund some of these activities."
The 49-year-old will undergo parliamentary vetting and when approved by the Appointments Committee of Parliament will replace Mustapha Ussif, who served as Minister of Sports from 2021.
Adams will be expected to use his position to promote sports and use them to advance a cause. This may include developing policies, talent identification, foster holistic development and create opportunities for the youths, providing resources, and ensuring sustainable funding for the various national teams and ensuring they perform well at major tournaments.
By: Pascal Amoah
