Nigeria: Parents and experts seek chess as part of the curriculum

With chess viewed as a valuable educational tool, parents and experts have urged the government to include the game in the national curriculum.

This is because, in their opinion, chess is about deciphering and analyzing, thinking strategically and anticipating the consequences would improve understanding and social interaction.

Trainer Ola Olawiyi said in a recent chess clinic organized by the Lekoyi Empowerment Initiative in Lagos that chess could be the perfect tool for teaching children.

He said it was about protecting kings, capturing queens, and stealing towers, but it was about quadrants and coordinates, lines, angles, weighing options and making decisions.

Olawiyi noted that chess is becoming part of the global curriculum, and as such, Nigerians must consider adding the game to the national curriculum.

“The game is rapidly becoming global so we can start teaching them this game. We have been involved in running this clinic for free for over five years,” said Olawiyi. “Through this game, children learn to be strategic in their actions, school, and lifestyle, and we value our sponsors.”

For her, a member of the Lekoyi Academy’s Board of Trustees, Titi Masha, chess helps children “develop their rational, creative, and logical thinking to work differently with cognitive skills to understand what the next person will do.”

Ben Langat, a parent and chess enthusiast, also handed out the medals to the participating children and said it encouraged the children to take up the game.

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