By Benjamin Omoike, Lagos
The Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC, has presented different sporting kits to Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board for redistribution to 1,016 public primary schools across the 20 Local Government Education Authorities in Lagos State.
Receiving the items on behalf of the State Government at a brief presentation ceremony held within the premises of LASUBEB in Maryland, the Chairman of Lagos State Universal Basic Education, LASUBEB, Mr. Wahab Alawiye-King, assured the representative of UBEC that the items would be used for the intended purpose and would be handed over to the sports representatives of each of the beneficiary schools.
Alawiye-King informed that the donated items, which include Table Tennis boards, High Jump and Landing, Scrabble, Chess, Jerseys, Footballs, Skipping Ropes and many others, were part of the several interventions by UBEC, aimed at promoting co-curricular activities among school pupils.
The Permanent Board member in charge of co-curricular activities, Mrs. Sherifat Abiodun Adedoyin, said that LASUBEB desires mental alertness for all school children, saying that for children to assimilate well or even study, they must be mentally and physically fit.
She expressed the hope that when children are fit there will be improved performance, saying, “We want them to be active, strong and healthy and sporting activities is one of the ways through which these can be achieved.”
Adedoyin assured parents that the sporting activities will not interfere with the normal academic activities of the pupils, noting that Wednesdays have been allotted for extra-curricular activities across primary schools in the state.
The representative of UBEC at the event, Alhaji Alabi Baba Asaju, maintained that Education can only be comprehensive if the cognitive (thinking), the affective (emotions or feeling) and the Psychomotor (Physical or kinesthetic) domains of a child are all developed.
While saying that “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” the UBEC representative averred that the donated items would further promote sporting activities, esprit de corps and professionalism among the pupils.
Also speaking at the event, the Education Secretary of Ikeja and the Chairman of the National Association of Local Government Education Secretaries, Lagos State Chapter, Comrade Amosu Hakeem Abolore, said that the encouragement of sporting activities in schools provides an alternative way of excelling for school pupils who may not be performing well in academics.
He stated that the type of sporting equipment donated by UBEC like Chess, Monopoly and Scrabble are intellectual games that will also enhance the thinking capacity, spelling ability of pupils and bring their ingenuity forth.
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