MINISTRY COMMITTED TO ENHANCING QUALITY OF M'SIAN FOOTBALL

SHAH ALAM (Malaysia), Feb 27 (Bernama) -- The Education Ministry is
committed to enhancing the quality of football in the country through
initiatives such as the Education Ministry football league, Education Minister
Muhyiddin Yassin said.

The league, introduced in 2008, comprises the Education Ministry's Trophy
League for students under 14 years old and the Junior League, held in
collaboration with the Football Association of Malaysia, for students below 17.

Muhyiddin said the league, participated by students from 14 football and
sports
schools, would provide a constant stream of footballers who would later
represent their states in the country's league.

"We are aware of the need to enhance the quality of football in the country.
This is where schools can play their role in building the country's football
team, which, at one time, was a feared force in Asia and even qualified to
compete in two Olympics namely in Munich in 1972 and Moscow in 1980," he said.

He was speaking at a ceremony prior to kicking off the league's 2010 season
at Sekolah Kebangsaan Seksyen 9 here Saturday.

Nine other schools also participated in the event.


Muhyiddin, who is the Deputy Prime Minister, said the ministry implemented
the high performance sport programmes in school, which involved seven sports
including football, since 2008.

"Under the programme, 30 district training centres, 14 football schools and
two
sports schools, which also serve as a sport excellence centre for elite school
players, have been established," he said.

He said the high performance sport programmes were supervised by 160
coaches,
involving 1,450 school football players aged between 13 and 17.

While acknowledging that problems like insufficient sport infrastructure and
equipments would hamper the effort to bring back the glory of sports in schools,
Muhyiddin said under the Ninth Malaysia Plan, the ministry had allocated RM1.5
million to supply sport equipment in Selangor, with RM83,000 (US$1=RM3.4) for
Shah Alam alone.

"To improve sports infrastructure, an allocation of RM9.5 million was
given
to Selangor, with Shah Alam getting RM280,000 to build a multipurpose court at
SMK Section 7," he said.

This year, Muhyiddin said a total of 800 students would receive a monthly
aid of RM70 under the ministry's sports scholarship scheme.

Muhyiddin also watched the Under 14 match between SMK Seksyen 11 Shah Alam
and SMK Tunku Anum Tunku Abdul Rahman Jitra, where the latter won 2-1.

-- BERNAMA