Dubai Sports Council (DSC) has completed the evaluating visits for governmental & private schools, nominated to compete in the 2nd edition of the fruitful initiative of “Hamdan Bin Mohammed Order of Merit for Sports Education School”, launched by DSC to create & develop Dubai sports strategy (Sorts Achievements & Excellence), attain the best marks of excellence in the sports & educational work and motivate schools & students to achieve remarkable development. The initiative boosts schools’ efficient contribution to scout, attract & develop talents in various sports as part of the talents’ attraction & development policy, applicable in Dubai and developed by DSC to become as a base of work in sports & educational academies and entities.
DSC implements the initiative of “Hamdan Bin Mohammed Order of Merit for Sports Education School” to popularize the culture of the exercise of sport among school students of various ages & multi-nationalities, because of the great benefits of the same on the health, activity & happiness of the promising students, based on the importance of schools in this field. Sports educational school is defined as the school which endeavors to improve & develop its sports abilities via ensuring a healthy environment suitable for learning through curricula and sports programs / working in a way that qualifies it to play an effective role to boost community health / creating the appropriate atmosphere for fair sports practice and competition among juniors / scouting and developing sports talents / meeting the needs of school students for healthy physical activity.
Evaluation of 72 Schools:
A teamwork, composed of representatives from DSC & specialized House of Global Experience in this field, held visits to 72 schools which have qualified to compete to win the title of this initiative. The visitors reviewed the sports facilities, equipment & programs of each school in order to accomplish the evaluation process and to award points as per the criteria & weights of competition.
One governmental school & one private school will be named to win the title of the 2nd edition of Hamdan Bin Mohammed Order of Merit, and they will be honored during the next academic year.
The Competition Criteria comprises:
Infrastructure: which is decided as per the specifications, quality and efficiency of available sports facilities: (swimming pools – gyms – indoor & outdoor stadiums and the level of the maintenance of the same), besides the appropriateness of facilities and the preparations of all students including students of determination.
Sustainable Health: including the programs, initiatives, workshops and awareness campaigns, which boost the concepts of sports and health, prevention of contemporary diseases (diabetes and obesity), and awareness of intact nutrition through school canteens.
Sports Excellence and Scouting & Developing of Talents: through activities, courses, tournaments, participations, and sports results, achieved in or outside the school and at all local, regional, continental & international levels, and through school sports talents who are qualified and recruited in Dubai sports clubs.
School Management: the management’s support and keenness to implement programs, plans and initiatives of physical, sports & healthy activity and to attract qualified administrative and technical staff.
Sub-criteria within the 2nd edition of the initiative also comprised additions related to the schools readiness to deal with any exceptional circumstances and business continuity, besides innovation and the use of modern technologies in sports activities.
It included sub-criteria related to the schools’ efforts, with regards to some national and international initiatives of great impact on sport; top of which are:
Tolerance and peace in sports, since sports spirit represents the other side of tolerance, and it includes many intertwined values and principles, containing justice, respect, commitment to fair play and elegant behavior in case of victory or loss.
Rejecting fanaticism in sports and the role of schools in teaching students about the importance of being ethical and avoiding fanaticism that is inconsistent with higher sports ethics.
It is worth-mentioning that DSC organized a workshop in Oct. 2022 for the managements of governmental & private schools in Dubai, in the presence of representatives from the Emirates Schools Establishment and the Knowledge & Human Development Authority in Dubai to explain the criteria & weights of evaluation and to unveil new issues related to the 2nd edition of “Hamdan Bin Mohammed Order of Merit for Sports Education School”, alongside the schedule of evaluation process.