Pretoria — Sport and Recreation Minister Fikile Mbalula will be rolling out the South African School Sport National Championships from 10 -15 December at various venues in Tshwane.

The SA School Sport National Championships is the culmination of the minister' sports plan, which seeks to ensure maximum access to sport, recreation and physical education in every school in South Africa.

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Ministry of Sport & Recreation and Basic Education on 13 December 2011, wherein both departments had an agreement on specific roles to play regarding the programme.

This was preceded by the School Sport programme, which was launched on 5 November 2011 at Vista, Soweto, followed by the signing of the MoU.

The MoU commits both departments to deliver a sustainable integrated plan to provide school children with opportunities to take part in physical education and organised sport through the creation of an accessible and implementable school sport support system.

To drive the programme further, the SA Schools Shootout took place for six days during a three-week period in March 2012 in Johannesburg. The National Schools Sport League Programme was then launched on the 28 March 2012 in Mamelodi.

The SA School Sport National Championships is the ultimate sport competition for various schools in the provinces, which compete in nine sporting codes, namely:

Athletics : Tuks Stadium from 14 to 15 December 2012

Basketbal : St Mary's High School & University of Pretoria, Mamelodi Campus from 11 to 15 December 2012

Wheelchair Basketball : Pretoria West Indoor Hall from 11 to 15 December 2012

Chess : Pretoria Show Grounds from 11 to 15 December 2012

Cricket : St. Alban's College from 11 to 15 December 2012

Volleyball : Heartfelt Centre, Valhalla from 11 to 15 December 2012

Gymnastics : Joni Bach Sport Centre from 11 to 13 December 2012

Football : University of Pretoria TUKSSPORT from 11 to 15 December

Netball : University of Pretoria TUKSSPORT from 11 to 14 December

Rugby : University of Pretoria TUKSSPORT on 11, 12 and 14 December

The competitions will start at 8am, the opening ceremony will be held on 10 December 2012 at Lucas "Masterpieces" Moripe Stadium, Atteridgeville, at 5pm.

The closing ceremony will be held at TUKSSPORT, University of Pretoria's Rembrandt Hall on 15 December at 6pm.