INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC ACADEMY 7th JOINT - IOA

Bridging National Olympic Academies to secondary schools
The pivot that lies at the crossroads of this entire process is the
link between the NOA and secondary schools. In Aruba, a pilot
project has been initiated by the Teachers Training Institute to develop
an Olympic Education Package that may be applied as part of the
national school curriculum in the coming years. Also, lately, due to
the fact that the Olympic Games will be held once again this year,
many Arubian students referred to their NOA to obtain information on
the Olympic Games and the Olympic Movement for their school
presentations and projects.
At this point it is evident that in many countries a coherent
bondage between the NOAs and schools is lacking, thus immediate
action should be taken to remedy the situation in the students’ best
interest and in providing a broad and wide education to all students.
Rodrigues Coelho (1998) reiterates that “the institutions for Olympic
Education have a major role to play in the overall development of
mankind.” My key question in this regard is whether it is high time
that Olympic Education should, at least, form part of the Physical
Education syllabus, if not be presented as a separate subject, by law.
The Olympic Education-Physical Education chain
To date there are few countries that have Olympic Education
forming part of their Physical Education curriculum and this may be
the main reason why a great number of schools do not give Olympic
Education the attention it deserves.
It is important that all competent authorities view Olympic
Education as something positive and as another invaluable ingredient
that should be added to the package being offered to today’s
secondary school students. It is disheartening to note that in Tonga,
for example, Physical Education is not given the same weighting by
Government, Mission and Private institutions. Hence, a monitory
board should be set up in this regard to ensure that all students are
given equal opportunities.
The Tongan NOC, as is the case with other countries, faces a
continuous struggle when arguing in favour of Olympic Education, as
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