GFF, MOE launch second phase of F4S initiative at CPCE
The Guyana Football Federation (GFF) and Ministry of Education (MoE) on Monday launched the second phase of teacher training for the FIFA Football for Schools (F4S) initiative, joining forces with the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) to onboard student educators ahead of the national rollout of the ground-breaking programme.
FIFA has selected Guyana as the first Caribbean nation to implement F4S, which focuses on developing valuable life skills as part of age-specific, structured football sessions for girls and boys aged 4 to 14.
The two-day training course at CPCE will upskill about 50 CPCE students and comes hot on the heels of the first phase of “master trainer” education for teachers from across Guyana, which FIFA instructors conducted in May.
GFF President Wayne Forde said the partnership with CPCE was an important phase in the ongoing efforts by the Federation and MoE to equip more teachers across the country to accelerate the rollout of the F4S programme, which kicks off in the new school year in September.
“It is such a great initiative for us to be upskilling the teachers that are being trained at Cyril Potter College to deliver education across the ten regions of this country,” Forde said. “ The impact of the F4S programme will be felt more the more teachers we have delivering it. We are very confident F4S is going to be a resounding success.”
Dr Olato Sam, an Education Specialist in the MoE, said the F4S programme, designed with UNICEF, would enable Guyana to improve the way it prepares young people for productive lives after education by broadening their skillsets and interests beyond purely academic subjects.
“Our young people need to leave this education system having been exposed to a range of not just academic programmes, but what we oftentimes refer to as enrichment experiences – that is vital,” Dr Sam said.
“The teachers currently going through their teacher training experience are the core of the rollout of this programme,” he added. “They are the ones who are going to be expected, within their environments, to impart the knowledge of this very well thought out, balanced programme, created by FIFA and UNICEF, to the young people across the entire nation.”
Davis Alfred, one of the trainee teachers at the college, said he looked forward to working with the F4S programme because football had played an important part in creating a balanced education platform and positive mindset during his own experience at school.
“It (F4S) is a very good idea because it will get students and teachers out doing more sports rather than just having the children in one place and teaching them in class,” Alfred said. “It will help a lot.”
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