SINGAPORE — Sports facilities in every school in the Republic will be opened to the public to give people from all walks of life the opportunity to take up sports, Minister of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) Lawrence Wong told Parliament yesterday.

Working together with the Ministry of Education (MOE), the minister said this year alone, 15 more indoor sports halls and 10 more school fields will be made available, adding that his ministry’s aim is to eventually make all schools’ sports facilities available for dual use. The school facilities will complement MCCY’s sports facilities master plan that was unveiled last year and includes the setting up of five regional sports centres.

“To make the most of our limited land space, we are also working with MOE to open up the sporting facilities in schools for the public’s use even during after-school hours.

“We have received a very good response to these Dual-Use Scheme (DUS) facilities, so we’re working with MOE to open more of such facilities. For new schools, we are making sure that the facilities are built and designed with dual use in mind,” said Mr Wong in response to concerns raised by Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) Ben Tan that Singaporeans are not exercising enough.

Dr Tan, who is also the chief of Sports Medicine at Changi General Hospital, said this was evident from the 2011 National Health Survey, which revealed that the obesity levels in the Republic had increased to 10.8 per cent in 2010 from 6.9 per cent six years earlier.

In a speech highlighting 10 areas of concern, the NMP said it is worrying that young people do not enjoy sports and wondered if they participated in sports activities only to accumulate Co-Curricular Activities (CCA) points.

Dr Tan told Parliament that two polytechnic lecturers estimated that 60 to 70 per cent of poly students would fail their National Physical Fitness Award test. He cited the examples of National Service pre-enlistees who find it difficult to get fit and the NSmen who struggle to pass the Individual Physical Proficiency Test.

He also cited figures from the last National Sports Participation Survey in 2011, which revealed that only 42 per cent of Singaporeans exercised once a week — down from 50 per cent in 2005.

In his reply, Mr Wong pointed to the updates that his ministry conducts annually which showed that overall participation levels have risen above 60 per cent in 2013 and last year.

He added that more sports programmes for the public had been rolled out after Sport Singapore launched ActiveSG last year. Significant shifts have also been made to encourage more people to adopt sports as a lifestyle.

In schools, Mr Wong said students are exposed to sports through a quality and rigorous Physical Education (PE) curriculum.

The minister said: “Lesson time set aside for PE has been increased to at least two hours per week. The MOE has revised its PE and Sports Development Framework in the past year … so the idea is to give students opportunities to acquire fundamental motor skills, gain exposure to a variety of sporting experiences and to participate recreationally in physical activities.”

He added that MOE has also replaced the CCA points system with a revised co-curricular recognition system that places more emphasis on participation. This system “recognises participation in sports activities outside school, such as those organised by Community Clubs and National Sports Associations”.

To get all Singaporeans on board, more is being done to encourage senior citizens to get active, such as participating in the Masters category at the Singapore National Games last year. Disabled athletes are also given equal support as able-bodied athletes.

Mr Wong cited the example of Paralympian Laurentia Tan, who receives about S$90,000 of funding support a year in the form of stipends and grants for coaching, competitions and equipment. “We are providing more support, not just financial support, but support in many areas.”