Moroccan teenagers will soon have well-equipped local sports facilities, Sports Minister Mohamed Ouzzine tells lawmakers on June 3rd. Photo: Magharebia/File
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* Moroccan Minister for Youth and Sport says sport is an ideal way to encourage education in civic values and citizenship and to preach the message of non-violence. *
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Magharebia, by Siham Ali in (Rabat, Morocco, June 6, 2014) ― As part of an effort to expand opportunities for Moroccan youth, four ministers on Wednesday, June 4th agreed to boost the country’s amateur football infrastructure.
Under the three-year, 135-million euro deal, 11 new regional training centers and four football academies will be created. The agreement signed with new FRMF chief Faouzi Lekjaalso also calls for upgrading 90 stadiums with the newest generation of synthetic turf.
Investment in youth-related issues will be given high priority, Mohamed Ouzzine, minister for youth and sport, told lawmakers earlier this week. Sport is an ideal way to encourage education in civic values and citizenship and to preach the message of non-violence, he explained. Conscious of this fact, the ministry has set up a number of sports and social centers in partnership with local authorities.
Ouzzine called on elected representatives to seek out partnerships so that land could be made available and targets for the construction of local sports and social centers could be met. “The ministry is prepared to look at all proposals, provided that local partners also do their part to strengthen cooperation,” he commented.
Lawmakers from the Party of Authenticity and Modernity (PAM) called for rural areas not to be left out under this scheme, as they suffer from a lack of appropriately qualified human resources and sports facilities, in spite of the importance of sport in society.
The government must double its efforts to invest in local sport, which is a bulwark against violence, antisocial behavior and even extremism, sociologist Hicham Chmichi said. Young people should not become victims of a sporting and cultural vacuum.
“On the contrary, there must a huge range of sporting activities available, because sport teaches discipline and moral values. A young person who has realized his potential will not fall so easily into the hands of the obscurantists,” he said.
Work realized over recent years to develop local sports facilities still falls short of people’s aspirations, he said, because children and young people in working class districts still struggle to find places where they can enjoy their hobbies. Sporting and cultural facilities must become a priority in the urban development process, political analyst Saida Barhoumi agreed.
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