(932)IMPLEMENTATION OF A CHESS PROGRAMME IN A SPECTRUM OFSCHOOLS IN SOUTH AFRICA TO ADDRESS ANALYTICAL LOGICDEVELOPMENT AND PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT IN CHILDREN

摘要

Over the past two years a chess project, Moves for Life, has been launched in some schools in SouthAfrica to address improved learning in school subjects, particularly mathematics and science.In 2011 the project implementation phase was started in areas remote from the central hub ofoperations in Pretoria. Over 7000 children were brought into the system. In addition 200 teachers weretrained to become on-site trainers, in some fifty schools. Trainers travelled to various schools to initiatethe process. Some of these schools are hundreds of kilometres from Pretoria which presentschallenging logistics scenarios. A deliberate attempt was made to access schools in far rural areas inwhich the basic infrastructure such as electricity may not exist. Such schools have been correlatedagainst other schools in the programme which compare to the best schools in the world in terms ofinfrastructure, quality of staff and support systems.An interesting finding in the case of unsophisticated rural schools has been that it is necessary tospend time with parents and staff to gain genuine support from the parent group. Initially parentsindicated support but were later found to be somewhat reluctant because they did not fully understandhow a chess programme would support a child’s educational experience.President Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa is Patron of the project. Presidential support hasbeen a significant factor in gaining early acceptance in a number of rural schools in which the verytraditional approach to the standard curriculum was seen as paramount. The early success of theproject has also resulted in the 13th World Chess Champion, Grand Master Garry Kasparov forming ajoint venture with Moves for Life. A Kasparov Chess Foundation: Africa has been formed which isworking in collaboration with Moves for Life to propagate the South African programme to other Africancountries. A visit by GM Kasparov to South Africa gained media coverage which enhanced corporateattention to the objectives.