More public sports facilities

A school in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, locked up its basketball court to prevent nearby residents using it. Local residents said the school was preventing them from keeping fit. The problem is: more public sports facilities are urgently needed, says an article in xinhuanet.com. Excerpts:

In fact, such news reflects the lack of public sports facilities in our cities. According to the Fifth National Sports Facilities Survey, China's sports facilities per capita is only 1.03 square meters, and over 70 percent of them are in schools, enterprises and public institutions. Less than 2 percent of the country's sports facilities are located in public parks or squares that are open to the public.

Moreover, according to Article 28 of the National Fitness Regulations, public schools should open their sports facilities to the public. Therefore, the action of the school in Ningbo is not only absurd, but also against the regulations.

In reality, in order to meet their own needs, there is always a limited amount of time when school sports facilities can be open to the public.

Addressing the lack of public sports facilities will take a while, for now, full use should be made of the sports facilities in schools, companies and public institutions. Otherwise, even though there will be no more locked basketball courts, many people will still be unable to exercise.

(China Daily 07/12/2012 page9)