Badminton in schools programs engages International Schools

The Badminton Association of Ghana (BAG), in their bid to develop the sport at the grassroot level introduced a program dubbed "Shuttle Time Badminton in Schools Program".

The objective of the programme, was to educate teachers by providing them with the skills and knowledge to implement badminton as part of their Physical Education (PE) curriculum with lesson plans and teaching resources for their school as a result of participating in the programme.

The teachers were introduced into a six-week programme of activities into their PE classes with a view of preparing their students for the social blitz event, at the end of the programme to showcase the physical and social benefits of the sport.

BAG also has established club-school links between local juvenile badminton clubs and participating schools, which was managed and coordinated by the Badminton Regional Associations across the country to ensure that there was an accessible pathway for all participants in the school programme into club badminton.

The program was aimed at giving technical practical training, which includes to Physical Education (PE) teachers in the various Junior High and Senior High schools across the country.

Mr. Yeboah Evans, President of BAG, said the program was targeted at 124 schools this year, adding that 657 schools would be completed by 2020.

He said they had exceeded the number for this year, adding that they had trained 194 badminton PE Teachers from the ten regions of the country. According to him they have trained some Junior High and Senior High Schools PE teachers already and it was time for private and International school teachers to be trained.

"We took the badminton in school’s program to the international schools. A total of 13 international schools were represented by their PE representatives. The schools included a school from Gomoa Manso, thus Morgan International Community School (MICS), Akosombo International, Ghana International School, Tema International School, Smile International, and Christian College among others," Mr Yeboah said.