Eighteen public schools from four districts of Lagos State will be participating in this year’s edition of Chess4Change competition.
At a press briefing to herald the competition at the PwC training school, Victoria Island, organisers of the competition, Media Vision, said 18 schools comprising of three girls only schools, three boys only schools and 12 mixed schools will be participating in this year’s edition.
Four new schools would be making an entrance into the competition, which would be kick starting with a month of tutelage session from May 22 to June 21.
Speaking at the conference, Country Operations Partner, PwC, Pedro Omontuemhen said the company’s decision to choose only public schools to participate was deliberate.
“We are deliberate about the schools we choose. We want to impact the society that is why we choose public schools as against private schools where the children of the rich attend.
“Three of the participants have gone abroad to compete. With chess we have been able to develop the children mentally and academically,” Omontuemhen said.
He however charged the students to take the game seriously.
Omontuemhen however stated that the Chess4Change competition has never been without challenges adding that convincing his senior colleagues to embrace it has been a big challenge for him.
The increase in prices of things generally in the country is another challenge PwC is facing as the company has to increase the budget earmarked for the competition yearly.
The attitude of some school principals is another challenge Omontuemhen highlighted.
“Some of them don’t really appreciate the impact of Chess4Change on the students and their schools.
Speaking in the same vien, Vice President Nigeria Chess Federation, NCF, Adeyinka Adewole said chess is game as it improves the brain, helps in analysis and education.
“Anybody that plays chess is a serious-minded person. Chess can take you from nothing to something. The Chess4Change programme has been able to an internal master, which is the highest level in Nigeria. We hope it would produce a Grand Master in the nearest future,” Adewole expressed.
For Head of Marketing and Communication, PwC, Sylva Ifedigbo, Chess4Change is an initiative targeted at grooming future leaders.
