The sports
industry is a multi- billion dollar industry which attracts billions of people
either to participate or to witness sports. The professionalism in sports has
made a radical change in the pattern of consumption, production and management
of sports events, sports persons and sporting organizations. The application of
modern managerial tools and techniques becomes more and more relevant to make
these activities viable, feasible and doable. Today, the commercial aspect of
sports is of utmost importance. However, there are other aspects of sports
which we often tend to ignore. The
objective of this article is to explore the possibilities of using sports as a
vehicle to spread education, especially for the underserved communities of the
world.
Kofi Annan,
the former Secretary General of United Nations, once said, “Sports can play a
role of improving the lives of whole community.” This concept of empowering
community has properly been implemented by Mathare Youth Sports Association
(MYSA) which started its journey in Kenya in 1987 with a small self-
help project. MYSA introduced a football league involving the slum children by
adopting ‘Pay it Back’ approach. More than 14,000 children participate in this
league and in return of the facilities provided by MYSA, the children have to
participate in various social awareness and health- related programmes, such as
neighbourhood cleaning, plating trees, cleaning water, attending classes on HIV
awareness, malaria prevention, pregnancy and drug awareness. Scholarships are
provided for excellent performances in photography, music and drama. A former
goalkeeper of this project mentioned, “Older kids, who have been involved since
its beginning, have become the leaders and the role models in the community and
football has been the catalyst for their social, physical and intellectual
development”.
There are
number of benefits of this kind of projects. First, it makes the children of
the underserved communities aware of social issues which help them to
understand the importance of coordination, cooperation, discipline and social
bonding. Second, it makes them aware of the health- related issues which help
them to lead a healthy life. Third, the project supports them in developing
skills in photography, music and drama which enhance the possibilities of
future employment. Finally, it generates employment in the form of instructors
who play an instrumental role in running the project.
In another
example, sport is directly used to make the children aware of the social and
health- related issues. In this example, a child is asked to run with the ball
to a box in which the images of health relate topics are kept. The child is
then asked by the instructor to pick up a specific image and to explain. If the
child fails to perform, he/ she has to return and pass the ball to the other
child who has to complete the task then.
From these examples, it is evident that sports
can be effectively used as a medium to spread education, especially for the
children of the economically backward communities. It empowers the entire
community by making them aware of social and health related issues and also by
enhancing the possibilities of future employment. The effective implementation
of ‘Education through Sports’ programme may play an instrumental role in
solving problems like illiteracy and drop-outs.
