Coronavirus: National School Games cancelled for the year, says MOE

Student-athletes at the National School Games opening ceremony on Jan 21, 2020. ST PHOTO: CHONG JUN LIANG

SINGAPORE - This year's National School Games (NSG) competition has been cancelled as there is insufficient time to complete the season within the remainder of the 2020 school calendar, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said on Tuesday (May 19).

It added that another reason was that students "would not be adequately prepared for the competitions due to a lack of training".

The move was part of MOE's announcement on the easing of measures to stem the coronavirus outbreak in schools and other educational institutions.

The annual Games, which typically starts with zonal rounds in January and runs till August, had been suspended since Feb 7 amid the pandemic. That was the day Singapore upped its disease outbreak response level to Orange and the suspension was initially scheduled only till the end of the March 14-22 school holidays.

But it was then suspended a second time on March 20, this time till the end of the mid-year holidays.

The holiday period, initially scheduled for May 30-June 28, was also brought forward, coinciding with the extended national circuit breaker period which will end on June 1.

The Games attracts about 60,000 student-athletes across 29 sports.

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