Turki Al-Dakheel Okaz It is good news that the Shoura Council has approved introducing sports in government-run girls schools. It is, however, surprising that the issue was made into a case that was to be settled by the council as if it was a big national problem. If you told an Australian, a Canadian or a Briton that you had differences over girls' sports, he would pour you with sarcasm. It is our nature to keep blowing into issues until they are inflated like balloons, waiting to explode any minute. The idea is that girls have every right to practice sports in school. There is nothing wrong with this idea, but the complicated culture and unrealistic imagination have both made it unacceptable to our society. It doesn't make sense that some preachers believe that when a girl practices sports she may seduce and sexually arouse other girls. This way of thinking is not only weird, it is sickening. During the council's discussions, as many as 92 members approved the recommendation and made it obligatory on the Ministry of Education to add sports to the curriculum of girls education. They also asked the ministry to liaise with the Ministry of Higher Education to make special sports training programs for female teachers. Schools all over the world have girls' sports. Playing sports is a tool for psychological and physical education. It will help keep the girls fit and teach them to be patient and forbearing. The issue of girls' sports has been rejected by our society for more than 30 years. The reason is the incorrect religious teachings that call for keeping women indoors. We have to fiercely fight and overcome these wrong ideas.
