About the Ministry

The Ministry of Youth and Sports was established in 1984. Before that sports sector was dealt with by the Ministry of Sports and Culture while the youth sector was looked after by the Ministry of Labour and Manpower. Since its inception, the Ministry of Youth and Sports has been dispensing its services for the development of the youth section of the population. At the same time, it looks after the upliftment of games and sports in the country. Following are the major activities of the Ministry.

•     All matter relating to youth-their welfare, training and prospects.
•     Organization and mobilization of the youths for voluntary participation in the development activities of the country.
•     Co-ordination of youth services liaison with concern ministries/ divisions.
•     Administration of grants-in-aid under specific projects.
•     Youth awards.
•     Programmes to encourage a sense of adventure, responsibility ,confidence and achievement in youths.
•     Research and study on youths and youth development activities.
•     Promoting activities for creating employment opportunities for the unemployed and under employed youths.
•     Promotion aid development of games and sports.
•     National sports awards.
•     Aid from foreign and international body in the field of sports.
•     Grants-in-aid to sport organisations.
•     International Organisations and other international programmes in the field of sports.
•     Pride of performance; merit awards in sports.
•     Organisation and participation in national and international games and athletics.
•     Development publication in the field of sports.
•     National bodies relating to sports.
•     Exchange of sports team with foreign countries.
•     Pension to sports men.
•     Secretariat administration including financial matters.
•     Administration and control of subordinate offices and organisations under this Ministry.
•     Liaison with International Organisations and matters relating to treaties and agreements with other countries and world bodies relating to subjects allotted to this Ministry. All laws on subjects allotted to this Ministry.
•     Inquiries and statistics on any of the subject allotted to this Ministry.
•     Fees in respect of any of the subject allotted to this Ministry except fees taken in courts.

The Ministry's major activities in sports sector relate to the organizations like National Sports Council (NSC), Bangladesh Olympic Association(BOA), Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protishtan(BKSP), and the Federations and Associations affiliated under the NSC. The ministry comes forward to the organizations with guidelines, policies, financial supports and necessary regulatory advice. It provides co-ordination role when other ministries and organizations are required to work on a common platform for any national or international event. Another organization is the Directorate of Sports which is a government department. It is directly linked with the Ministry for its activities in sports sector.

Ministry of Youth and Sports works as guardian to the Department of Youth Development which is the only implementing agency of government policies and programmes for the youth and has offices in 64 districts and 476 sub districts, and 60 institutional training centers throughout the country.

In some cases, the Ministry of Youth and Sports directly involves itself in the implementation process, such as distribution of National Youth Award and National Sports Award, extending financial support to genuinely needy athletes, helping the best performing youth clubs with financial supports and the like.

The Ministry of Youth and Sports is manned by cadre service personnel at the upper stages who work as Assistant Secretary, Senior Assistant Secretary, Deputy Secretary, Joint Secretary and Secretary. There is no post of Additional Secretary in this ministry. Postings are made by the Ministry of Establishment. Non-cadre class-II posts are filled up by promotion from among the stenographers, accountants, office assistant-cum-computer operators who form the contingent of helping hands for the cadre-officers.

Minister/Minister of State is the Chief Executive of the Ministry. He is helped by the Secretary who is the Principal Accounting Officer of the Ministry and is responsible for day-to-day administration of the Ministry. At present the Ministry of Youth and Sports has 19 class-I, 16 class-II, 19 class-III and 17 other officials working under it.

The ministry gets its yearly budget allocation from the national budget. Its revenue expenditure comes from the ministry of Finance after the budget is approved by the parliament, while the development expenditure is provided by the Ministry of Finance after the development plan is approved by the Ministry of Planning.

Ministry of Youth and Sports carry out the project activities in collaboration with the Ministry of Planning, Economic Relations Division (ERD), Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Division(IMED), Ministry of Finance, and the like. It works with national and international development partners. When it comes to a question of international communication it seeks help from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Legal points are discussed with Ministry of Law and Justice. Ministry of Establishment helps this ministry in the matter of personnel administration.

The Ministry has an obligation to present statements of its activities to the parliament and its committees. There is a standing committee of 10 members in the parliament for the Ministry of Youth and Sports. The ministry has to work in close touch with the Parliament Secretariat as well as its standing committee.