Sport at school, the Chamber of Deputies approves the bill on the use of school facilities by sports associations and clubs

The draft law amending the regulations on the use of school sports facilities by sports associations or clubs was unanimously approved at first reading in the Chamber of Deputies. Starting from a proposal of parliamentary origin, the text met with the support of the government and the main majority groups. The observations of the Ministry of Education and Merit, mainly aimed at safeguarding school autonomy and the prerogatives of school leaders, were incorporated. The final text was also achieved through a strong synergy between Minister Giuseppe Valditara and Minister for Sport and Youth Andrea Abodi.

'Sport is crucial for the growth of students and for educating them in healthy lifestyles, respect for the rules and for the adversary. This measure, which is also the result of collaboration with Minister Abodi, whom I thank, is an important result, in line with the unprecedented investment plan for sport in schools that we strongly advocated, and which has led to an allocation of resources by MIM amounting to almost one billion euros,' Valditara said.

Abodi

"The one unanimously approved today is a step of great political and social value to relaunch the right to practise sport in our nation. Ensuring that school sports facilities are made available to sports associations and clubs, even outside school hours, is not only a matter of infrastructure, but of social cohesion, inclusion and wellbeing, in line with paragraph 7 of Article 33 of our Constitution. We are thus adding today a further step in the indispensable and indissoluble link between sport and school, which sees in the systematic collaboration with Minister Valditara, whom I thank, the necessary prerequisite," commented Andrea Abodi.

The measure aims to simplify the procedures for the concession of school sports facilities to sports clubs and associations by the local authorities, which own the facilities themselves, guaranteeing a balanced balancing of interests with respect to the priority needs of educational institutions.
The bill overcomes the principle of prior consent by schools for the use of their sports facilities by sports clubs and associations.
The authorisation process is reversed: the institutions are given the burden of notifying the owner of any obstacles to the schools' curricular or extracurricular activities envisaged in the three-year planning documents.
In this way, the main and essential function of school gyms is reaffirmed, aimed at carrying out the activities included in each school's Three-Year Educational Offer Plan (PTOF).