Published : Feb. 28, 2011 - 09:32
British Malvern Primary School, where Steven Gerrard of Liverpool FC graduated, is to ban its students from playing soccer.
The school recently announced that playing games with leather balls can be dangerous, and therefore will now only allow those made from sponge. The school said that such a decision was to “ensure the safety of all our pupils.”
Yet, some are dubious about the school’s “safety-first” policy. Tam Fry from the Child Growth Foundation said that Malvern’s decision was “stupid.”
(MCT)
“Children must be exposed to risk, otherwise how can they be expected to learn?,“ said Fry.
”Schools should be places to learn. They may think they are protecting the children but they could just as easily fall over playing with a sponge ball,” he added, according to the Liverpool Echo.
Gerrard would of course have played soccer when he was a student, said Fry.
The school defended their decision announcing that they “treat the health and safety of its pupils as a top priority.”
By Kang Yoon-seung (koreacolin@gmail.com)
Intern reporter
스티븐 제라드 (리버풀 FC) 출신 초등학교, 교내 축구 금지 선언
영국의 한 초등학교가 안전문제를 이유로 축구를 금지해 화제다.
리버풀 FC의 스티븐 제라드가 졸업한 Malvern 초등학교는 각종 공놀이가 학생들에게 위험할 수 있기 때문에, 이제부터 교내에는 스펀지로 만든 공 이외는 전면 반입을 금지한다고 선언했다.
그러나 이러한 안전우선 제도에 대한 비난 여론도 만만치 않다. 일각에서는 “학생들은 직접 위험에 노출도 되고 하면서 배우는 것이다,”라면서 제라드도 재학 중에 축구놀이를 하지 않았냐고 반문했다.
이러한 비판에도 불구하고, 학교는 “학생들의 건강과 안전이 최우선이다”라며 결정을 굽히지 않고 있다.