Opinion

At last, physical education for girls

July 13, 2017
At last, physical education for girls

Saeed Al-Suraihi



Okaz

THE Ministry of Education did not need the approval of the Shoura Council to introduce physical education in girls' schools. It has every right to do this according to its vision and mission.

This is a decision of sovereignty under which the ministry may undertake whatever it may deem necessary to achieve its mission of educating our boys and girls.

The ministry is in charge of educating and upbringing our youth in various aspects including health, which will preserve their physical fitness that cannot be achieved without making physical education part of the syllabus.

There is no difference in this regard between boys and girls. They both need physical fitness, which will make them strong and capable of facing any health problem that may face them on the way. This will also make them more capable of absorbing their academic subjects.

The ministry, which has the sovereign right through delegation of authority to approve the school syllabus, does not need the approval of the Shoura Council to introduce a text book or decide on a certain subject to be taught in schools.

If physical education in girls' schools is a complex matter, which needs a different solution, then let me tell the ministry that this solution does not lie in the Shoura Council.

It is rather a Shariah question, which is to be answered by the concerned religious authorities including the Council of the Senior Scholars.

I have no doubt that the members of this supreme religious body will not see anything wrong in introducing physical education in girls' schools as long as it is practiced according to the Shariah rules. The members of the scholars' council are too pious to claim that physical education of girls is prohibited in Islam.

It is true that the Shoura Council has rejected a recommendation to introduce physical education in girls' schools but is has kept the door ajar when it recalled a previous recommendation it has issued asking the ministry to give more attention to the health and physical fitness of the girls.

This recommendation indirectly indicates that physical fitness of schoolgirls cannot be achieved without the introduction of physical education.

The ministry was brave enough by practicing its sovereign right and its mission to introduce physical education in girls' schools from next academic year. The majority of citizens are happy with this decision, which they have been anxiously waiting for years.


July 13, 2017
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