Stabroek News
March 30, 2001
Dear Editor,
I am well aware of everyone's interest in the continuing saga which
is Elections 2001,and it is indeed, of great importance to us all. But
I'd like to detour, if I may, to something which had a profound effect
on me, and should be of great interest to many of your readers,
especially our concerned parents.
I was reading the Education section of the Jamaica Observer
(Wednesday, March 28,2001) on the internet, and came upon an article
captioned" Schools use chess to raise intellect"-20 sign on
to new programme this year [ please note: link provided by LOSP web site ]. What a revelation!
The article speaks about 20 primary and secondary schools from the
Corporate Area, St. Catherine and Montego Bay signing up with a new
Chess in Schools Programme, being conducted by National Master,
Geoffrey Byfield. It begins, "More schools are turning to chess
in a determined effort to enhance the social and academic skills of
their students. They are doing so on the basis of research that proves
that children playing chess can significantly improve their thinking
skills, concentration, memory and social skills".
According to Byfield, there has been significant interest in the game
by schools and sponsors, raising hope for a new generation of
intellectuals.
"The game is being used to challenge bright children and also to
stimulate the more challenged children. "It works well, he said,
because children normally perceive chess, not as work, but as fun. "But
the extent to which you're required to stretch yourself intellectually
is higher in a game of chess than in ordinary school work."
The article then pointed out that the concept of using chess as an
educational tool is not new, with reference to research conducted on
Venezuelan schools in 1984,showing that the game accelerated the
increase of intelligence quotient(IQ)in elementary age children, the
programme was expanded ,and in 1988,chess lessons were conducted in
all of Venezuela's schools. Chess is now part of the curricula of
thousands of schools in nearly 30 countries around the world,
including the United States, Russia, Germany, Cuba and Yugoslavia.
Also of interest to me, was the fact that Scotiabank in Jamaica, has
joined the Chess in Schools Programme, which was launched in January
this year. They are sponsoring the purchase of books, chess sets used
in the schools and help in its promotion.
Anyone remember Forbes Burnham? A passionate chess enthusiast, and
one-time President of the federation! In his day, I, as a lover of the
game could look forward to the monthly tournaments arranged by the
then Guyana Chess Federation, at the Teachers' Association building,
and also reading the chess magazine, Ajedrez. Mr. Burnham was even
responsible for the allocation of a Main Street building as the
federation's headquarters. In the year's following his passing,
everything has disintegrated. I doubt whether there are more than
5,000 true followers of the game in Guyana, children included! I
myself have to go on the internet to play, what a shame!
Stabroek News to their credit, carries articles by Errol Tiwari,
which leads me to believe that there is still some hope. The bottom
line however, is that the much-maligned Forbes Burnham, was more in
tune than most of his detractors could have imagined. We have deviated
from pursuits which require discipline and thinking, such as Chess,
Mass Games(Chinese could attest to this as a great form of discipline
of the mind),and last, but not least the Guyana National Service, to
overt lawless behaviour in schools and beyond, with the recent call by
the Education Ministry, for a curb in school-hour wandering, as a
recent example.
It would be refreshing if some of these undertakings could be re-visited, we're desperately in need of a change!
Yours faithfully,
Nigel Mc Kenzie