PETALING JAYA: The education, and youth and sports ministries will hold joint discussions on introducing esports in schools, says youth and sports minister Hannah Yeoh.
While the youth and sports ministry did not have any programmes related to esports in schools currently, Yeoh said, it had plans to list esports as a co-curricular and club activity.
She said the ministry had already listed it as a sport under the Sport Development Act.
“The ministry plans to hold joint discussions with the education ministry about bringing esports to schools.
“These discussions will be held through a committee involving my ministry, as well as the education and higher education ministries, chaired by the deputy prime minister (Ahmad Zahid Hamidi),” she said in a written Dewan Rakyat reply.
She was responding to a question from Abdul Khalid Abdullah (PN-Rompin) about the programmes in place to develop esports at the school level.
Yeoh also said her ministry was in the final phase of launching the national esports development guideline, aimed at tackling negative stigma towards esports and raising awareness on best practices in the management of the sport.
“The ministry is planning to hold engagements to obtain feedback on the aspects of monitoring and protection of children, a code of conduct and ethics, as well as a career path framework in the sport,” she said.