Focus on education

THE idea that sports is the be-all and end-all for unemployed and idle youths to do something worthwhile with their lives is popular in Papua New Guinea.
At times, it tends to overshadow one of the pillars on which any properly functioning society is built on – education.
To many children and youths, school is a chore, a job that should be done in order to find one’s place in the community.
It seems there has been a shift in people’s attitude to sport and education.
There was a time when Papua New Guineans considered going to school and graduating to an institution of higher learning a major prize, an achievement better than anything else.
Sport is all about fun and recreational pursuits that appeal to the practitioner’s desire to play, compete and enjoy the experience.
It is for this reason that sport is of course an easy, workable and accepted solution to keeping youths occupied and out of trouble.
Many community leaders and politicians employ this as a rallying call to their causes and they have come to know that scoring points with the community at large can be done on the field as effectively as anywhere else.
Some leaders sponsor events with an eye to gaining the kind of popularity among the youth that will see their names remembered long after the final whistle sounds.
The question sponsors and initiators of sports competitions should take the time to ask themselves is, how can I best use this money in order to have a lasting effect on the people?
Sometimes, the best answer is not always the most interesting or gratifying at the time. If the pay-off is not easily seen, then the people tend to lose interest in the activity despite its merits.
Sports can be beneficial on the health and well-being of an individual.
There is no doubt that physical activity and the stress it entails on the human body has a positive effect on it.
Sports is a distraction, albeit a passionate one at that, for the great majority of people who take part in it in whatever capacity, whether it is as a player, coach, official or fan.
Papua New Guinea’s education system has struggled to cater for the growing population and as a result many individuals are unable to continue because of the restrictions of learning levels and the financial burden placed on parents.
This, in a way, has contributed to sports as a tool used by communities to keep its youth in check and not left to their own devices.
Sports has taken an important role in PNG with the Pacific Games and the PNG Games becoming major events on the nation’s calendar.
But the people, especially the youths and impressionable young, should remember that education will and should always, wherever possible, outweigh sports in any and every circumstance.
The message projected by leading codes such as rugby league and football (soccer), that students can achieve their dreams through discipline and dedication to the sport has validity as a way of shaping behaviour and reinforcing useful habits.
In a perfect world, sports is complementary to education and employment, because only a portion of the population can actually earn a real living from it.
Two PNG greats in rugby league Marcus Bai and Justin Olam are testimonies to earning a living from sports.