MOE in full support of Sport For Life initiative

The Ministry of Education is in full support of the Community Education and Cricket Programme “Sport For Life”.{{more}}

Chief Education Officer Louann Gilchrist, at last Saturday’s launch of the 2010/2011 Programme at the Arnos Vale Playing Field, said that students are in need of a well rounded education.

“When the students come to us, we realize that as human beings in need of not just personal development and personal growth, but also as human beings in need of nurturing: socially, culturally, and through sports – sports a co-curricular activity, that we can facilitate the all round development of students,” Gilchrist said.

Linking sports with education, Gilchrist stated: “The importance of sports in personal growth and development in fostering the ideals of discipline, teamwork, team spirit cannot be overly emphasized.”

“Among the strategies which are employed in the classroom, we have co-operative learning, where students are taught to organize themselves and share material and to collaborate and co-operate, and what students gain in sports, is parallel to what we teach in the classroom,” the CEO said.

Saturday’s launch heralded the second phase of the programme, which was officially launched in February of this year, and has provided twelve weeks of sport, education and healthy lifestyle training to twenty children from the Sion Hill Government School, who were considered to be failing to reach their potential at school and in society.

Roger Pitchard, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Mustique Charitable Trust presented the programme with a cheque for EC$65,000 to assist with the 2010/2011 programme at Saturday’s launch.

This year, thirty more students have been introduced to the programme. They are drawn from the Kingstown Anglican and CW Prescod Primary Schools.

The additional funds, according to local co-ordinator of the programme, Tony Regisford will assist with the larger numbers enrolled in the programme.

Regisford said that internationally, the programme has the active support of the England and Wales Cricket Board; the West Indies Cricket Board, through the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Cricket Association; and the International Cricket Council.

Also addressing last Saturday’s induction were Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, and Minister of State in the Ministry of National Mobilisation, Youth and Sports etc. Senator Ces Mc Kie.

Through the Sport For Life Programme, which takes place every Saturday at the Arnos Vale Playing Field, participants between age 10 and 14 are involved in the sport of Cricket, as well as Mathematics, Language Arts, basic Information Technology, a Healthy Lifestyles slot and a leadership module.

The Learning Centre, located at the Media Centre at the Arnos Vale Playing Field, has been outfitted with 16 computers and a white board and projector to be used by participants in the programme.

Microsoft provided the IT software free of charge, as it has done in the other centers spread across the region.

In the region, Sport For Life is operational in Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and St. Lucia. There are plans to extend the programme to Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Dominica, and Jamaica soon.

There are also Sport for Life set ups in Pakistan and the UK.

Here in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, it is hoped that by next year, 140 students will be enrolled in the programme. Students attend the programme in groups of 20 each weekday after school and in groups of 40 each Saturday. (RT)