ALTHOUGH boxing is one of the favorite sports of Filipinos, the Department of Education may not include the sport in the national physical education curriculum because it does not have the technical expertise or personnel to teach the sport to students.
“The DepEd doesn’t have the proper resources to teach the sports to students. We prefer to teach the basic skills such as English, math and science,” said Undersecretary Fe Hidalgo, who, as acting secretary, earlier entertained the idea of teaching boxing in public schools following the feat of world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao.
Hidalgo said the department considered the idea and it was even discussed during a meeting of a technical committee in a bid to discover and training more Filipinos who could become world boxing champions like Pacquiao.
The Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines even offered its expertise in teaching boxing to Filipino students, but Hidalgo said: “I don’t know if it will happen.”
Hidalgo said it would be better if students learned boxing in private clubs and gyms since this would free the department from unnecessary liabilities due to accidents. Florante S. Solmerin
