The Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee ("Tokyo 2020") is pleased to announce the official nationwide launch of its Education Program , an initiative whereby Tokyo 2020 accredits schools that undertake to use educational materials produced or authorized by them for Olympic and Paralympic educational purposes.
Education was an underlying premise of the modern Olympic Games. The French pedagogue and historian Pierre de Coubertin founded the modern Olympic Games with the aim of enhancing his country’s education system, believing that physical education was a key factor in overall human development. Inspired by his philosophy, Tokyo 2020 aims to engage all young people across Japan and spur their interest in the 2020 Games. Tokyo 2020’s Education Program is called the "Yoi Don! Program " in Japanese. Yoi Don! means "Get Set" in English and is intended to depict the readiness of young people to embrace the Tokyo 2020 Games.
A new website will be launched offering a range of free resources for teachers to use, including ideas for activities and projects, as well as films supporting the programme which focus on Olympic and Paralympic values. Teachers will also be able to share their work and ideas and collaborate with each other through the site.
Tokyo 2020 aims to certify schools in every prefecture of Japan by 2020 as participants in its Education Program and is planning activities involving them during the Tokyo 2020 Games. Olympic weightlifter Hiromi Miyake and Paralympic wheelchair tennis player Yui Kamiji joined the Program launch event, which was held today with 600 students at the Utase Junior High School in Chiba City near Tokyo, one of the schools certified as a participant in the Program.
Miyake, a silver medallist at London 2012 and bronze medallist at Rio 2016, said: "At the Rio Olympics Games, spectators cheered enthusiastically for all athletes, regardless of their nationality. I was really delighted to hear them cheering for me when I did well, and even when I didn't do so well. In 2020, I'd like you to cheer for athletes from all around the world, not just for those from Japan."
Kamiji, a bronze medallist at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, added, "In Rio, people seemed to really enjoy the Games. Some may not have been very familiar with the rules of some of the sports, but they enjoyed watching them anyway. At the Tokyo 2020 Games, I'd like you first and foremost to have good time."
Ryoichi Igawa, a third grade pupil at Utase Junior High School, commented, "I felt inspired by what Ms. Miyake said today at the event - she said it is important to keep making an effort and challenging yourself until you succeed."
As part of the build up to the launch of the Education Programme, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government initiated its own education drive last year to raise awareness of the Tokyo 2020 Games among students in the city. More than 3,000 schools have had a glimpse of the Olympic and Paralympic learning materials in the meantime.
One of these schools, Ochanomizu Elementary School in Tokyo, has already commenced its own program of Olympic and Paralympic education activities, giving its students a chance to broaden their perspective of different cultures. Prompted by its location in an area of the city with a significant Russian population and a 19th century Russian Orthodox Church, the school reached out to the local Russian community and visited the Russian Embassy. The students met with Russian children there and both groups of students shared aspects of their respective cultures with each other.
Sho Nagata, a pupil at the school, said: "Before learning about them at school, I didn't know much about the Olympics or Paralympics, but the education programme helped me to become more familiar with them. In our English class I learned how to guide tourists around the city, so I would like to practice the language and help guide overseas visitors at the Tokyo 2020 Games," he added.
Education programmes conducted by universities will commence from July 2017.
For more information, please contact:
International Communications
Tatsuo OGURA
Email: tatsuo.ogura@tokyo2020.jp
Tristan LAVIER
Email: tristan.lavier@tokyo2020.jp
Junichi SATO
Email: junichi.sato@tokyo2020.jp
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