Boris calls for compulsory daily sport for school kids
London Mayor and Government agree on importance of Olympic legacy for children
Boris Johnson said at a press conference discussing the Olympic legacy yesterday that school children should get two compulsory hours a day of PE, reports the Telegraph.
The London Mayor, who went to Eton, said he would like to see the kind of regime he enjoyed at school introduced in schools across the UK.
“I think it is of profound importance for the happiness and success of this country that we have more sport in schools,” Boris said.
Earlier in the week, Culture Minister Jeremy Hunt admitted that school sports provision is “patchy” and agreed with the British Olympic Association that there should be a “step change” in sports policy to keep alive the spirit of Team GB’s huge Olympic success.
The Culture Minister attributed GB's record medal success to the model of funding sport through the National Lottery, which was set up by the Tories in the 1990s.
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Meanwhile, Prime Minister David Cameron incurred the wrath of teachers around the country after he blamed them for the decline in school sport.
The Prime Minister wants to encourage a "big cultural change" to take advantage of the good-will created by the success of British athletes at the Games.
Defending the Government's decision to scrap the compulsory teaching of two hours of sport a week in state schools, David said some teachers “don't want to join in”. Teachers responded by saying his comments were "extremely rude”.
The Prime Minister insisted that inspiring sporting potential in youngsters was about increasing the "competitive ethos" in schools, rather than imposing "targets".
Heptathlon gold-medal winner Jessica Ennis said she hoped her success would inspire a new generation of children.
"I started doing athletics when I was nine-years old," Jess said. "I had loads of support from my school and PE teachers." She added that it was important to teach kids that it's a good thing to be competitive.
Olympic chairman Sebastian Coe added, "This is the best opportunity any of us will have in our lifetime to get more young kids into sport," he said. "We've really got to build on that."
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