On May 18, Wuhan Education Bureau released on its official website a list of 120 schools in the city where their sports venues will be accessible to the public. 

According to some statistics, there are 2,573 sports venues in Wuhan, of which 1,924 venues belong to primary/secondary schools and universities, accounting for 75% of the total number of sports venues in the city. 

To encourage school sports venues to open up to the public, most of the selected schools will be given grants of CNY30,000 (USD4699.25) per year by the Wuhan Municipal Government to supplement expenses in the operation of the venues and facilities and payments to relevant staff. Schools in the Wuhan Economic & Technological Development Zone and Wuhan East Lake High-tech Development Zone will get subsidies from its district’s finance bureau. Wuhan Sports Bureau will also increase subsidies to schools from public lottery  welfare funds, which are to be used to supply open schools with sports equipment.

Wuhan Education Bureau emphasized that school playgrounds, outdoor football fields and outdoor basketball courts must be open to the public without charging any fees. However, sports facilities requiring large operation costs are allowed to charge reasonably, such as tennis courts, indoor basketball court, swimming pools etc.

Wuhan is the capital city of Hubei Province.

Source: Wuhan Education Bureau 

Proofread by Raymond Fitzpatrick