Sporting Activities helps Children

The Director of the Taqwa Private Schools, Lagos, Alhaja Mariam Alimi, has asked parents to allow their children to participate in sporting competition, saying it is good for their mental and physical development.

Alimi spoke at the sixth inter house sports of the school held at the Agege Stadium, Lagos on Thursday 12th of February 2015.

According to her, apart from building the children physically, such competition prepares them for challenges ahead.

She said, “Sports help to build mentally and physically and that is why I encourage parents to help build their children’s interest in sport. We also discover talents in our children through sports and this helps to build their future.”

The administrator, while stating this also urged the government and school owners to provide sporting facilities in schools.

She added, “Sports play an important role in the lives of the children and events like inter house sports showcase talents in the pupils.

We hope to have a private mini stadium soon.’ The institution’s Board of Governors Chairman, Sikiru Alimi, explained that parents should not force their children to choose a particular profession.

He added, “Encourage your children in exhibiting their talents in sports and other areas of life. Again, there is no need to force children into choosing a particular profession.

“We participated and won the Lagos State Table Tennis ‘Talent Hunt’ in 2014 and won the first edition of the Dansol High School Soccer Competition, so we are bent to showcase the school as a place where all round education is given.”

Courtesy: www.punchng.com

Topaz retains Atlantic Hall School Sports title

THE defending champion of the Atlantic Hall School, Poka, Epe, Lagos, Topaz House, has once again reclaimed the trophy by winning the 21st edition of the inter-house sports competition held at the weekend 23 January 2015 in the school.

With 25 gold, 16 silver and 20 bronze medals, Topaz House, beat Emerald House to the second position (18 gold, 32 silver and 27 bronze medals). Garnet House and Sapphire House took the third and fourth positions with 15 gold, 12 silver, 12 bronze, and 14 gold, 18 silver, 11 bronze medals respectively.

Despite a good start by the Emerald team, the athletes could maintain their lead, allowing Topaz to outshine them in the 200m, 100m, 4x100m, Long jump, and the march past events.
It was indeed an exciting moment for the
students, teachers and guardians who came out en masse to cheer up their teams.

At the end of the event, Odunsi Kiki and
Gbadamosi Rasheedat from Topaz House, clinched the Best Athletes (boys and girls), just as Queens College, Yaba, Trinity College, and Corona Secondary School, came first, second and third respectively in the girls invitational
relay.

Speaking after the prize presentation, the
principal of the school, Andrew Jedras,
commended the school teachers, parents and the participants for their efforts, while stressing the importance of sports in the educational curricula.

According to him, “for us here at Atlantic Hall, it has become imperative to instill into our wards different knowledge, and sports happens to be one of them. Sports helps the student tovfocus and think more, that is why we made it mandatory for everybody to participate in this competition.”

Nigerian students should be competitive with peers anywhere

FROM the Administator of the Grace High
School, Gbagada, Lagos, Mrs. Tokunboh Edun, came an admonition that the content of education in Nigeria should always be in line with the realities in the international scene.

Speaking at an interactive with parents and some old students of the school, Edun said schools have a responsibility to ensure that their students do not miss opportunities that can put them in a position to favourably compete with
their counterparts anywhere around the globe.

Responding to a question on why her school decided to teach Chinese language since the children are already learning English and French, she said: “On the decision to introduce mandarin as a subject, we discovered that in Europe and America, Chinese language is
gaining more recognition because of the growing importance of China in world trade and politics.

It is in line with international standard that we decided to introduce Chinese language. Some people have been wondering how many foreign
languages our children will have to learn.

But I do not think the children will loose anything if they learn English, French and Chinese. It does not prevent them from learning our indigenous languages. All we want is a situation where our student can compete with their peers all around the world. This is part of views that education
should promote global peace.”

According to her, “We have four Chinese on the staff now.  We also work with the Confucius Institute at the University of Lagos. You can see that one of our special guests during the graduation ceremony was Professor Lirong
Jiang, Co-Director, Confucing Institute,
University of Lagos who has been working with us to promote teaching of Chinese language at Grace high School.”

On how the government can actually transform the education sector, she said the shortest way to achieve success in that regard is to vote more money to the area.

“If you have been following closely issues in the education sector, especially at the
secondary and tertiary levels, you will see that inadequate funding is a major issue.

That is why stakeholders have been calling on government to increase funding on education.

I believe that we can do more for education in this country. So my suggestion is that the Federal Government should lead the way by improving funding of education.”

Edun explained the Grace Osinowo Football Competition organised recently for the colleges in Lagos ands why it is an annual event.

“Really, the annual Deaconess Grace Osinowo Football Competition is to honour my late mother who founded Grace Schools over 40 years ago. The school management decided to create a way of remembering her legacies and
also keep the children positively engaged.

That was why we thought of a popular thing among children. And we have seen that the students love soccer. Also, late Deaconess Grace Osinowo was a lover of sports. Right from the beginning
sports development has been very prominent in the school and the competition is a confirmation
of that,” she said.