With Sports, Chapelville Inculcates Values, Integrity, Discipline in Pupils

Sunday Okobi

In order to ensure that the spirit of fair play, hard work, values and integrity as well as discipline is returned to the Nigerian society, stakeholders have advocated that there is the need for these virtues to be instilled in the younger generation especially the school pupils at the early stage.

This was the focal point of sporting activities at the recent 2nd edition of the Inter-house sports competition of Chapelville Nursery and Primary School held at the Strong Tower Academy, Ikorodu, Lagos State. The event was aimed solely at creating team spirit among pupils and to encourage the spirit of sportsmanship, fair play value for hard work as well as to develop their social and kinetic skills.

In his address, the School Proprietor, Chapelville Nursery and Primary School, Pastor Femi Ogunsanya, expressed further the commitment of the school to continue to instill the culture of fair play, integrity discipline and values in the pupils through various sporting activities annually.

He cited lack of integrity, discipline and value for hard work as some of the challenges facing the country, noting that the situation have made many people struggle to attain success at all cost and abandon integrity, national values and ethnics.

The cleric noted that through sport competition, the pupils are taught to imbibe the values of the fair play in order for them not to involve in unhealthy competitions which he said can “lead them into corruption or to enrich themselves in an ungodly manner or wanting outdo others either in their place of work or home.”
Ogunsanya explained that for the school, sport is a means of developing the mental capacity of the pupils, stressing that the event encourages the spirit of bonding among the pupils, as “it enhances their physical ability especially you realise that they are young and youthful. Therefore, we are channeling these energies towards sports.”

He added that if their energies are channeled into sports, it would guide them from using it in wrong activities, noting that in the school, they take sports and childcare seriously, while calling on parents to create time for their children.

Ogunsanya, who is a former banker before taking solely the service of God, said: “The world has become a global village. A child can learn how to shoot a gun from watching clips on the internet. What the children of this age require is guidance. Social media is not a bad thing, there are a lot of good stuffs which we can drive from it, and therefore we encourage our children to go on the internet to do research that will enhance them academically.

Children of this age can perform very well if they are properly guided. Government have a role to play in reviving sports especially in addressing the decline in sporting activities because we don’t have enough schools that can cater for the population therefore you see a lot of schools springing up, but with no playground.”

Some of the sports which the pupils participated in included: chess, high jump, sprint, relay, tug-of-war, calisthenics, march past, pick and drop, blind and search, filling the basket, big slippers race, filling the bottle, among others.

While all the houses-Sapphire (Blue) House, Emerald (Green) House, Salmon (Pink) House and Royal (purple) House- took part in the sporting event, in the overall result announced by one of the judges, Salmon came out third, Sapphire took second and Royal House came out victorious.

Declaring the competition open earlier, Chapelville proprietress/Head of the School, Olajumoke Ogunsanya, admonished the sports officials and judges to be fair and unbiased in their decisions, adding that the game should unite the school not divide them, “therefore, it is not a do-or-die affair.”

She expressed appreciation to some sponsors and corporate donors for their kind gestures toward making the day a huge success, stressing that their sacrificial contributions at this time are well appreciated.

Olajumoke, who is also the wife of the school Proprietor, said the management is committed to ensuring that the school becomes the best not only in Ikorodu, but in Lagos state, adding that they want to give the community the best education that is affordable.

She stated that the school is unique because they are not driven by profit, but value, noting that it is a virtue that is not common, “a lot of people are creating schools because of the profit and they want to compromise at all points.”

Maintaining that the game is aimed at encouraging team spirit, sportsmanship and fair play, the head of the school added that it is also to encourage and demonstrate the spirit of sportsmanship that gives the game the fun required.

According to her, “On the Inter-house sport event, we have done really well, we make sure all the pupils who participated in it are not left behind or neglected, and they are happy with the organising team.
“I think the competition is a fair game, there is no issue of disputes among the judges, no injuries have been recorded since the inception of this event. We have doctors around, to take care of any injured pupil, things have been working well and all necessary equipment’s are adequately provided.”