The Bhutanese Leading the way.
The Draktsho’s Fitness and Recreational Room was inaugurated with fund support from Austrian Bhutan Society and the Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport in Vienna, Austria.
Since its founding in 2001, Draktsho has made fitness and sports a priority in order to keep students fit and healthy because they are more vulnerable to illnesses and other health issues.
People with Disabilities (PwDs) did not have an access to any sporting facilities during the pandemic since they were either closed or could only accommodate a specific number of people, making it impractical for the 70 Draktsho pupils to attend.
As like to any other general population, the pandemic had the same impact on the PwDs. The danger faced by PwDs are worse by number of additional factors, including pre-existing medical conditions, difficulty accessing healthcare, lack of social protection and income security, mental health services, and communication technologies.
The Executive Director (ED) of Draktsho Deki Zam during the inauguration said that the Sports and Recreational Room will immensely benefit all students irrespective of their disability and age.
She said, “We hire a professional trainer to train students, especially senior students who have the capacity to perform better. They will not only train to keep fit but also prepare for any upcoming national or international sports events like Special Olympics or Paralympics.”
Each and every student will have equal opportunity to utilize this room and will be trained accordingly as per their need and physical capacity, she further added.
This funding support has not only enhanced the capacity of the organization but it also created better opportunities for the children and youth disabilities to have equal access to sports and other recreational activities.
They are extremely delighted to have finally completed this project and also very excited to kick start immediately.
She said, “We now need not worry about not being able to have access to other sports facilities because our students can work out on the Treadmills for their cardio and coordination, the multipurpose gym bar can make them stronger athlete’s and likewise the other gym equipment’s.”
Meanwhile, Draktsho has some very good athletes who are better than the some of the trainers and they have athletes who have participated at the Special Olympics World Summer Games in Greece in 2011, Los Angeles in 2015 and Abu Dhabi in 2019.
They have come home victorious bringing gold, silver and bronze medals in every World Game they participated in, she added.
