Road to Johannesburg: Sport for Education

In the build up to the Beyond Sport Summit 2014 in Johannesburg, South Africa we have been profiling the shortlisted projects category by category. In this edition we are focusing on the shortlisted projects for the Sport for Education award.

The Sport for Education award celebrates projects that use sport to increase the number of children accessing education and projects that use sport to increase the quality and relevance of education received. The projects in this category use sport to deliver a demonstrable increase in the number of children accessing education or in the quality and relevance of the education they receive. Alongside this the all projects support basic education values of numeracy and literacy.

The Shortlist is:

Ocean Academy - Caye Caulker Ocean Academy (Belize)

The Ocean Academy organisation attracts island youth to attend high school by appealing to their interest in the island’s sport tourism economy at Belize’s Barrier Reef (UNESCO World Heritage Site). Across Belize only 40% of youth attend secondary school. On the island of Caye Caulker even fewer students advanced because there was no high school until Ocean Academy opened in 2008.

The national youth unemployment rate is 30%. Guiding aquatic sports offers the highest-paid employment but many locals cannot afford the required certifications. Through partnerships with tour operators Ocean Academy students pay no fees to be trained in scuba diving, kayaking, fly fishing and windsurfing. Ocean Academy has created two small businesses in which students accompany tourists by kayak or bike and interpret the marine ecosystems and share local knowledge.

Trip profits are credited to the student leader's tuition and family income, thus further encouraging retention to graduation. Apprenticeships often lead to employment offers after graduation. Related electives include marine biology, tour guiding, leadership, first aid, communication and entrepreneurship skills.

Magic Bus - Magic Bus (India)

Magic Bus develops local community mentors who take children and youth living in poverty on the journey from childhood to livelihood through the use of sport. During this long term engagement, our mentors work with children and parents through a weekly curriculum that includes the use of sporting activities as metaphors to change behaviour in the areas of education, health, gender and livelihood. 

The programme is driven by the fact that a third of the world's poor live in India. 90% of Indian children do not finish their education. In 15 years’ time there will be 423 million Indians of working age unemployed and the majority will be uneducated, less healthy, ill trained and highly marginalised. Education deficiency leads to an increase in crime and a decrease in economic independence.

New Heights - New Heights Youth, Inc. (USA)

New Heights targets underserved New York City neighbourhoods that where only 33% of Latino and 26% of African-American students in public high schools graduate in four years and more than 1/3 of families live in poverty. New Heights believes that increasing access to education is key to bridging this income gap - on average; a high school graduate earns 38% more than a high school dropout per year, while a college graduate earns 64% more.

New Heights uses basketball as a “hook” to engage student-athletes in a variety of educational and leadership-development opportunities. These ensure that each participant in need receives guidance and support in their journey to high school graduation. They provide subject-specific tutoring and homework assistance to student-athletes who need academic support, as well as standardised test preparation and high school/college admissions counselling.

At New Heights, the basketball court is a “classroom” in which they encourage participants to develop and apply leadership and life skills. New Heights helps all students reach their greatest potential as academic and athletic leaders.