SEVEN SCHOOLS RECEIVE CHESS SETS

Jan 24, 2009 Sports

-Sport could be the missing component in school curriculum-Dr.

Fox

Ministers Dr. Desrey Fox and Dr. Frank Anthony (centre) and Director of Sport Neil Kumar (5th from right) pose with teachers and students who received chess sets yesterday.

By Rawle Welch

Before, making the presentation of fifty (50) chess sets to representatives of seven of ten designated secondary schools in Region 4, Minister within the Ministry of Education Dr. Desrey Fox openly confessed that she knew very little about the game.
Dr, Fox, who along with Minister of Sport Dr. Frank Anthony, Director of Sport Neil Kumar and President of the Guyana Chess Federation Errol Tiwari attended the presentation ceremony which was held in the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport Boardroom yesterday, said that the occasion marked the beginning of a process to support the education of children in Guyana.
Dr. Fox, who opened her remarks by saying that it was indeed a privilege to be present at such a ground breaking occasion, then informed the gathering about the history of the game including where it started and its benefits.
The Minister disclosed that Chess has been around for over 1500 years and it was first played in India in the 6th century AD, before spreading to Persia which was then conquered by the Arabs and subsequently ended up in Europe where the game evolved to its current state.
According to Dr. Fox, many countries have done studies on the benefits of the game and they found that there was significant advancement in spatial, numerical and administrative directional activities, verbal aptitudes, major improvement in cognitive development over a control group, students did significantly well in school testing, showed improvement in Maths and Science test scores, accelerated an increase in IQ among elementary age children of both sexes at all social-economic levels, enhanced memory among other significant benefits.
“In light of all these facts it is not unreasonable to imagine chess as a broader part of the school curriculum and it could very well be the missing component for us to regain our place at the top for educating our young people,” the Minister added.
Dr. Anthony in his remarks said that he is optimistic that the Ministry can do a lot for sports in Guyana, but more particularly chess.
“About two years ago not much was being done in the school system and when Errol (Tiwari) returned from Canada, I held discussions with him with the intention of getting his input with regards to resuscitating the sport within schools and he readily consented,” Dr. Anthony informed.
He mentioned that when people are provided with the opportunity to think critically, it helps to open many possibilities and that is the main purpose of the exercise, adding that the Ministry in collaboration with the GCF is determined to promote the game in schools.
The Minister spoke of the success of the initial schools tournament and he envisaged that by the next big tournament set for December many more schools will be represented.
“Our intention is to give out 100 sets to twenty schools across Guyana and this is not the end, we will be targeting more schools as we go along,” Dr Anthony said.
Kumar in his comments paid gratitude to the aggressive position taken by Minister Anthony since assuming office at the Ministry, attributing all success to him.
He also congratulated the GCF for being able to run off a national schools championship, a feature that was missing for so long.
The Director then singled out the Ministry of Education and the teachers for paying special attention to the sport.
The schools that received the sets were Covent Garden Secondary, Diamond Secondary, President’s College, Cummings Lodge, St. Rose’s High, Rosignol Secondary and Bishop’s High School. The other three schools will receive their sets on a later date.