Armenia is to make chess a compulsory subject in primary schools. Children from the age of six will learn chess as a separate subject on the curriculum for two hours a week. The authorities led by President Serzh Sarkisian, an enthusiastic chess-supporter, have committed around $1.43 million to the project.
Supporters of the project hope that learning chess would "foster schoolchildren's intellectual development" and teach them to "think flexibly and wisely".
Chess is of great importance in Armenia: The national team won gold at the biennial International Chess Olympiad in both 2006 and 2008, and the country's top player, Levon Aronian, is currently ranked No.3 in the world, according to the World Chess Federation.
Read more here: Armenia makes chess compulsory in schools | News.com.au
And I thought making mathematics compulsory was a bad idea.
ReplyDelete