Chess in Schools: Where It All Begins!
Written by admin on May 15th, 2008
Interested schools would be provided a set of books based on the ASEAN Chess Academy’s successful and international recognised Scholastic Program: Start to Play Chess, 10 chess sets, and a year’s school chess club membership in KLCA.
More important perhaps is that the teacher in charge will be given assistance in organising a chess club together with supporting activities and to teach chess to the standard of a World Chess Federation (FIDE) Developmental Instructor.
The objective of course is to introduce more children to the game and ultimately perhaps have chess recognised as school subject. It’s really a numbers game in that having more players means there is a larger pool from which to draw talent from!
It is probably the worst kept secret that without the Ministry of Education’s Majlis Sukan Sekolah Malaysia (MSSM) recognising and including chess as an official schools sport, chess in Malaysia would probably be much worst off than it is today.
The MSSM competitions have been a wonderful catalyst for chess, even after a very painful 7 year break, and today’s players are emerging ever younger thanks to computers and international youth age group competitions, so there is no denying its importance but very little has been done to take advantage of an infrastructure already in place and to build on it.
Sadly it appears that the local chess officialdom merely sees this as personal opportunity to use their position to milk the parents for training, equipment, trips, commissions, and the like.
When the ASEAN Chess Academy Malaysia was first set up, it was really made welcome as all those in training saw regular and enhanced employment, the consolidation and growth of the market, and international recognition. But when asked to work 9 to 5 (work discipline), to take certification exams (be qualified at the right level and competent), and to stop doing side deals (respect intellectual property and employment contracts), it only took 3 months for open hostility to break out.
I personally can sympathise - if mediocre, unable to embrace change, and with your rice bowl threatened, what else to do?
But it has always been the intention of the ASEAN Chess Academy Malaysia, through Intchess (M) Sdn. Bhd., to develop local training capability and concentrate on the top end of the market, and because MSSM has been a wonderful developmental partner, Malaysia has been selected as the first country in ASEAN by the ASEAN Chess Confederation for its regional Chess in Schools Program, even ahead of Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
And it is to their credit that KLCA and MSSKL have come together as the first partnership of state chess association and state schools sports unit for chess grassroots and infrastucture development.
It is simple - and our choice - if we want our children to realise their potential, we need to school teachers to teach chess and at the next stage have capable and qualified trainers who can nurture and develop talent. As a parent I want excellence so why would other parents accept anything less let alone medicocity?
More: continued here
Tags: KLCA
