Sport for Tomorrow supports the promotion of the Paralympic Movement in Indonesia
10 Feb 2016
On 3–4 February, the Japan Sport Council held a sporting event to promote the Paralympic Movement entitled “Para-sport Quest” at the Special School for Children with a Visual Impairment in Bandung, Indonesia.
The aim of the event was to enhance mutual understanding between students with and without a visual impairment and to raise awareness of and interest in Paralympic events and other sports for persons with an impairment.
The event was held as part of the Sport for Tomorrow programme, an initiative to promote the power of sport, and was attended by a total of 48 primary school students who learnt about para-sports and tried out para-sports for themselves.
The overriding objective of the event is to promote the Paralympic Movement and involvement in sports for people with an impairment. Indonesia was selected as the country in which to implement this programme as the 2018 Asian Para Games will be held in Jakarta, Indonesia, and raising awareness of para-sports is considered vitally important in the lead up to the 2018 Games and the Tokyo 2020 Games.
Twenty-four students with a visual impairment and 24 students without a visual impairment were divided into groups of six to embark on a “quest” to deepen their knowledge of para-sports. The students first enjoyed games as an icebreaker to get to know each other.
They then tried out the Paralympic sport of Goalball to gain firsthand experience of para-sports. This event was organised by the Japan Sport Council – the secretariat of the Sport for Tomorrow
Consortium – with the support of The School of Special Education for Visual Impairment in Bandung.
Since October 2015, the Japan Sport Council and teachers from the school had held a series of discussions focused on how to make this event an opportunity for students to learn more about the power of sport, and encourage understanding of the fact that sport enables
anyone to connect with others and build self-esteem. Before the event, the Japan Sport Council conducted a training session for the teachers to enable them to organise the event by themselves.
At the event, teachers encouraged students with and without a visual impairment to actively communicate and connect with each other by working in teams. This provided an opportunity for the students to enhance their mutual understanding, and the para-sport
experience enabled them to learn about the core Paralympic values: courage, determination, equality and inspiration.
The Japan Sport Council hopes the “Para-sport Quest” event will serve as a departure point for the further continuous promotion of para-sports and the Paralympic Movement. Mr. Yacobus Tri Bagio M. Pd, Head of Cooperation at the Bandung Special School for children with visual impairment and third President of the Indonesian Blind Union (PERTUNI) praised the event, commenting, “The children learnt a great deal by taking part in the event, and I was greatly impressed by the limitless potential of using the power of sport in education.
The event was very creative and I would like to share information about this event with other schools, so that more schools can learn new ways to enhance mutual understanding among students both with and without impairments. I hope this event will continue to be organised in Indonesia with adjustments made to meet different needs.”
Ms. Ester Maory, Head of Curriculum, Division of Special Education at the West Java Education Department, was also eager to further expand the event, “We have learnt an immense amount from the event, and the West Java Education Department is keen to make best use of the results.
We are already planning to distribute the event manual created by the Japan Sport Council to all 360 special schools for children with an impairment in West Java. I would like to start discussing
how similar events could be held at these schools when we hand this manual to the teachers and inspire them to learn about creative ways for students to experience the power of sport.”
The aim of the event was to enhance mutual understanding between students with and without a visual impairment and to raise awareness of and interest in Paralympic events and other sports for persons with an impairment.
The event was held as part of the Sport for Tomorrow programme, an initiative to promote the power of sport, and was attended by a total of 48 primary school students who learnt about para-sports and tried out para-sports for themselves.
The overriding objective of the event is to promote the Paralympic Movement and involvement in sports for people with an impairment. Indonesia was selected as the country in which to implement this programme as the 2018 Asian Para Games will be held in Jakarta, Indonesia, and raising awareness of para-sports is considered vitally important in the lead up to the 2018 Games and the Tokyo 2020 Games.
Twenty-four students with a visual impairment and 24 students without a visual impairment were divided into groups of six to embark on a “quest” to deepen their knowledge of para-sports. The students first enjoyed games as an icebreaker to get to know each other.
They then tried out the Paralympic sport of Goalball to gain firsthand experience of para-sports. This event was organised by the Japan Sport Council – the secretariat of the Sport for Tomorrow
Consortium – with the support of The School of Special Education for Visual Impairment in Bandung.
Since October 2015, the Japan Sport Council and teachers from the school had held a series of discussions focused on how to make this event an opportunity for students to learn more about the power of sport, and encourage understanding of the fact that sport enables
anyone to connect with others and build self-esteem. Before the event, the Japan Sport Council conducted a training session for the teachers to enable them to organise the event by themselves.
At the event, teachers encouraged students with and without a visual impairment to actively communicate and connect with each other by working in teams. This provided an opportunity for the students to enhance their mutual understanding, and the para-sport
experience enabled them to learn about the core Paralympic values: courage, determination, equality and inspiration.
The Japan Sport Council hopes the “Para-sport Quest” event will serve as a departure point for the further continuous promotion of para-sports and the Paralympic Movement. Mr. Yacobus Tri Bagio M. Pd, Head of Cooperation at the Bandung Special School for children with visual impairment and third President of the Indonesian Blind Union (PERTUNI) praised the event, commenting, “The children learnt a great deal by taking part in the event, and I was greatly impressed by the limitless potential of using the power of sport in education.
The event was very creative and I would like to share information about this event with other schools, so that more schools can learn new ways to enhance mutual understanding among students both with and without impairments. I hope this event will continue to be organised in Indonesia with adjustments made to meet different needs.”
Ms. Ester Maory, Head of Curriculum, Division of Special Education at the West Java Education Department, was also eager to further expand the event, “We have learnt an immense amount from the event, and the West Java Education Department is keen to make best use of the results.
We are already planning to distribute the event manual created by the Japan Sport Council to all 360 special schools for children with an impairment in West Java. I would like to start discussing
how similar events could be held at these schools when we hand this manual to the teachers and inspire them to learn about creative ways for students to experience the power of sport.”