THE PULL FACTORS OF MINORITY STUDENTS’ PARTICIPATION IN SPORTS

Sports activity is substantial for the wellbeing of students in schools. Sports activity has many social benefits. With special reference to minority students’ participation, sports are seen as a tool of social integration, especially in a multi-ethnic environment. This development has augured well and supported the idea of 1Malaysia as it nurtures cooperation among students of different ethnic groups in schools. This paper attempts to elucidate the nature of sport as a tool for social integration by looking at the existing programme of Sekolah Berwatak (sports-based character school programme). The study was conducted in the district of Pekan, Pahang. In order to obtain relevant data, Focus Group Interview (FGI) was employed with a sample of 40 students of Orang Asli, Cambodian, Rohingya and Chinese groups. Data collected through FGI has been processed using qualitative analysis. Our findings show that there are four factors such as training sessions, sports competitions, family tradition in sports and teachers’ role triggered social integration among students of different ethnic groups in sports. Thus, this paper will give an added value to existing knowledge on sociology of sport as it touches on the issues related to race, ethnicity and education.