About 29% of Kazakhstanis are engaged in physical culture and sports — Ministry of Culture and Sports

September 4 in the course of the meeting of the Government chaired by Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev, the issue of attracting the population to physical training and development of sports infrastructure was considered.

One of the main tasks set for the Ministry of Culture and Sports in the Address of the Head of State is to achieve 30% coverage of compatriots by systematic physical training and sports.

The Minister of Culture and Sports Arystabek Mukhamediuly reported on the ongoing work on developing mass sports infrastructure, as well as strengthening their material and technical equipment. Thus, according to the past results, the coverage of the population with physical culture and sports is ensured in 28.7%, which indicates that about 5.204 million people participate in the sports and athletic movement of the republic. Compared to 2016, this indicator increased by 1.3%.

"During the first half of 2018 together with the Center for Healthy Lifestyle, some 28,000 sports and mass events and actions were held, including about 15,000 in the countryside. More than 3 million people took part in them," said Mukhamediuly.

According to the minister, one of the components of the mass sport is Tests of the First President of Kazakhstan — Elbasy, introduced by the branch law. In the first half of 2018, 4.939 million people took part in the testing. Nearly 74,000 of them fulfilled the standards of the Presidential level, 244,000 — national standards, 371,000 — the standards of the initial level of preparedness.

Regarding the development of mass sports among children and youth, Mukhamediuly said that today in general schools more than 791,000 schoolchildren are engaged by sports sections in mass sports.

"Turning to the state of development of student sport, I want to note that as a result of joint work with the Ministry of Education and Science, today in 128 universities of the country, 189,000 students areengaged in physical activities. In 766 colleges more than 280,000 students are engaged in sports," the minister reported.

In order to provide physical education and recreational work at the place of residence among children of school age, institutions of additional education function: 537 children's and teenage clubs, 96 children's and youth clubs of physical fitness.

In addition, much attention is paid to the development of sports among persons with disabilities. Since 2009, the coverage of those engaged has increased from 4% to 10.7%.

"For their sporting development there are sports clubs, sports schools and departments in them. This year the first in Kazakhstan specialized Paralympic training center of international level was put into operation. The uniqueness of the new training center is that it is available for sports not only for Paralympic athletes, but for all people with disabilities," Mukhamediuly assured.

As the Minister of Culture and Sports stressed, the country has a steady development of national sports. The share of those engaged in national sports increased from 5.9% in 2013 to 6.6% in 2017.

"It is common knowledge that the coverage of the population with physical training is largely dependent on the availability of sports infrastructure. The country has 11,300 sports facilities and compared to 2016, their number increased by 6.3%. Of these, 9,300 belong to educational facilities, including sports schools, and only 2,000 belong to the objects of physical culture and sports. From the beginning of the year in the regions of the country due to local budgets and sponsorship funds, construction of 18 sports and recreation complexes has been completed. Currently, more than 20 complexes are being constructed in the regions," Mukhamediuly reported.

Within PPP in the field of physical culture and sports in the regions, 48 ​​projects are being implemented at different stages, which in new economic conditions provides additional opportunities for the development of sports infrastructure. So, work is underway on the construction of sports facilities, among which is the project to complete the construction of the Republican ski base in Shchuchinsk. The complex of ski jumps is one of the few facilities of this type in the world. Also the construction of the Olympic Training Center (Astana), the Republican Olympic training base in the Almaty region, the 300-place educational building of the Republican Specialized Boarding School-College of the Olympic Reserve in the city of Ridder in the East Kazakhstan region, etc., is also underway.

According to Mukhamediuly, an important place in the activities of the Ministry is devoted to improving the regulatory framework, within the framework of this work, 27 normative legal acts are enforced. The draft law "On Amendments and Additions to Some Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Physical Culture and Sports" was developed.

"The main directions of the bill are toughening the criminal and administrative responsibility for violation of anti-doping rules, strengthening the status of the National Anti-Doping Organization, strengthening the status of the Deaflympic Committee. Also, for the use of doping, all previously awarded incentives and payments are forfeited. An important innovation in the draft law is the creation of a single operator that implements the policy of providing sponsorship in the field of physical culture and sports, as determined by the decision of the Government of Kazakhstan," the minister said.

Along with this, the ministry drafted the law "On Amendments and Additions to Certain Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Gambling." One of the main directions of the bill is mandatory deductions in the sphere of gambling for additional extra-budgetary funding for the development of sports.

During the consideration of the issue, reports of akims of Kyzylorda region K. Kusherbayev and West Kazakhstan region A. Kulginov were also heard.

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