Education officials strive for return of traditional games

Manila: The Department of Education (DepEd) is spearheading a drive to promote traditional games in a bid to counter the negative effects of video and computer-based pastimes among schoolchildren.

During the launching of the Larong Pinoy campaign (Filipino Games) at the Museo Pambata (Children's Museum) in Manila on Friday, Education Secretary Jesli Lapus said the government is taking the lead in promoting the revival of traditional games with the view of refreshing values taught to children by sport.

"I am all for the return of traditional games," Lapus said. He was quoted by the daily Philippine Star as saying there is a need for children to go back to playing traditional physical games such as "luksong tinik", a game that require jumping skills, "sipa" which is similar to the Malay Sepak and "patintero", a local adaptation of the western game of tag, among others.

Educate

"I strongly believe in a campaign that aims to inspire the revival of traditional Filipino games. Hopefully, this would help educate more of the young children about the benefits they will gain from playing such traditional games," he said.

According to Lapis the launching of the Larong Pinoy campaign was timely as a recent survey showed a large percentage of the recreational time of schoolchildren is spent indoors and in front of computers or TV screens as "couch potatoes".