Rebecca Ejifoma and Lauretta Omosogha
Pupils of Chapeville Nursery and Primary School, Ikorodu Lagos recently hit the fields for the school’s maiden inter-house sports competition, held at the neighbouring Strong Tower Academy.
The school, which turned five last month, said sports is part of education; hence, to give its pupils quality education, it integrated the inter-house sports into the system.
In a chat with THISDAY at the event, the Proprietress, Mrs. Olajumoke Ogunsanya, explained that the competition was part of efforts to enhance the pupils’ learning and social skills mentally and physically, as well as to instil in them good character and the principle of fair play.
“Although the calendar for this term is very tight, the children showed so much excitement and commitment during the preparation. This made some of their parents present today despite their busy schedule. We have at least 60 per cent of our parents here.”
She said the event went smoothly, as teachers were assigned to handle various aspects of the inter-house sports. She said the financial aspect would have caused a setback, but some of the parents supported.
Ogunsanya, who decried the challenges of today’s parenting, said: “Today’s economy has really affected parenting. Most parents leave their homes at 4:30am and return at 11:00pm. Some could not make it here today because they were not permitted at their places of work. Some parents no longer stay at home to take care of their children. They neither see them when they wake up, nor when they go to bed.”
She therefore appealed to government at all levels to improve the living condition of parents to enable them take care of their children. “The government should create a working situation where all mothers will close at a specific time, early enough. That will enable them take care of their children. If we continue this way, I fear the future is bleak.”
The Head of School, Mr. Francis Muili, who explained why Strong Tower Academy’s field was used, said: “For an event like this, we need a standard field because you cannot say you are organising a competition in a very small environment like ours, our field is very small our playground is relatively smaller than this, that is why we came this far.”
He said the school had focussed on academics alone, but having been on for five years, it wanted to balance up the curriculum. “So we decided to organise this inter-house sports. And surprisingly, the children alongside their parents exhibited excitement when we broke the news to them. After all, all work and no play make everyone dull.”
He said the competition would be improved in areas like high jump, javelin, table tennis, among others.
