To prevent the spread of Covid-19, sports and physical education activities have been temporarily suspended.
School officials are in the oven and mill to ensure a school year without Covid-19 for students. In this movement, sports and physical education, which often requires contacts, has been reviewed, corrected and adapted to the current health context.
At the bilingual high school of Ekounou in Yaoundé, special arrangements have already been made. Omer Tingounze, head of sports at this establishment, explains: “Since June, the headmaster has invited us to make proposals to see to what extent children can work without being in danger. So, for a start, we will mainly focus on theoretical lessons. It will be precisely a question, not only of educating children on theoretical sports lessons, but also on the precautions that will have to be taken if we relaunch physical activities “, details the person in charge. Also at the Retirement College, sports and physical education activities will first be carried out in theory and in strict compliance with barrier measures.
According to Aline Aboli Esseng, professor of EPS, the first weeks will be devoted to theoretical lessons. “The children are coming back from a long vacation during which they experienced the psychosis created by this pandemic. It will first be a question of reassuring them, of educating them on the practical gestures to adopt when they are authorized to do practical sports exercises. This is how we will proceed, until
that we have new instructions from our hierarchy, “explains the teacher.
This will also be the case in elementary school
At the Ministry of Basic Education, officials are working to ensure a school year without Covid-19. A well-introduced source indicates that the courses will initially be theoretical. Since sport is a factor for development and the acquisition of team spirit, children will practice this activity when they are well prepared to follow compliance with barrier measures.
“Physical exercise is useful for the well-being of our children. It would not be good to remove them permanently from the school curriculum. For now, we are going to focus on exercises that do not require physical reconciliation such as gymnastics, shot put,
“explains Thérèse Etoundi, in charge of post-and-extracurricular activities at the Private School Chérubins in Obili. At the Marie-Albert II Private School, the practice has already been suspended. “It is difficult to control young children. Even if you explain to them that touching themselves is dangerous, they will have a hard time adapting to it. In the classroom, it is easy to deal with them. Once outside it gets complicated. This is why the sporting activity was first excluded from our programs, the time to observe the evolution of the pandemic “, informs Samira Epée, manager in this school.