After months of efforts by local parents and the intervention of some elected officials, the Howard County Public School System (HCPSS) has rejected requests for the construction of new cricket pitches, despite the fact that they would have come at no cost to the county. This refusal to provide equal access to facilities for the children of cricketing families in the county is very disappointing.

Howard County has one of the largest, and most rapidly growing, populations of families with roots in South Asian nations such as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. For these families, seeing their children play cricket with the Howard Community Youth Cricket Board maintains an important cultural connection, and the refusal of HCPSS to allow facilities to be built for them makes us wonder how this should be interpreted by the South Asian community in the county.

There is presently only one dedicated youth cricket pitch to serve an entire county’s worth of children. This is unacceptable, particularly when contrasted to the pitch-building that we see in neighboring Prince George’s, Montgomery and Anne Arundel counties, and makes for a sad statement about the county’s view of its South Asian citizenry. Perhaps the needs of this demographic are not valued in Howard County.

It is our hope that this unfortunate stand against South Asian families will be reversed, and that these children will soon get the recreational equity they deserve from their government.