Ayoni M. Agbabiaka
As part of its efforts to discover young talents among school pupils, operators of private schools in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have been charged to cultivate the habit of involving their pupils in physical and health education.
Executive Secretary, FCT Social Development Secretariat, Mrs. Blessing Onu, who made this call during the maiden inter-house sports of Doveland International School in Abuja, urged government to encourage the children in sports, in order to get them at young age.
According to her, when talents are discovered early in children, they could be retrained and built up in the different areas that they are good at, saying that there was the need for parents to also encourage the children for them to see that they can also excel in sport and not just in education.
Executive Director, Doveland International School, Mrs. Tina Chukwu, said that no school curriculum was complete without physical and health education, “because it helps to develop physical mentality”.
“Physical and health education is very important, because there is suppose to be a day set aside for children to express themselves through physical fitness. Fitness is very important and it is good to catch the children young and we are making sure that all our children participate one way or the other,” she said.
Director, FCT Universal Basic Education Board, UBEC, Dr Adamu Noma, commended the authority of the school for organising the festival, which exposed the children to different sport activities, thereby calling on schools in the FCT to encourage their children through sports festivals like the inter-house sports.
