{"id":38055,"date":"2025-07-31T01:34:46","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T01:34:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chessinslumsafrica.com\/?p=38055"},"modified":"2025-07-31T01:34:46","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T01:34:46","slug":"unlocking-potential-chess-in-slums-africa-champions-foundational-learning-with-borntolearn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chessinslumsafrica.com\/our-stories\/unlocking-potential-chess-in-slums-africa-champions-foundational-learning-with-borntolearn\/","title":{"rendered":"Unlocking Potential: Chess in Slums Africa champions foundational learning with #BorntoLearn"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><b>By Tunde Onakoya, founder of Chess in Slums Africa<\/b>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">My name is Tunde Onakoya<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">I am a professional chess player and a national master of chess. I\u2019m also the convener of\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/chessinslumsafrica.com\/our-stories\/\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Chess in Slums Africa<\/span><\/a><span class=\"is-active\" data-contrast=\"auto\">, a non-profit organization that uses the game of chess as a framework to give children skills who do not have access to education. We are a strong believer in children\u2019s potential, basing our work on the belief that children can do incredible things when they are given the chance, and the skills to know how. This is why we are joining the\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.unesco.org\/gem-report\/en\/btlcampaign\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">#BorntoLearn campaign<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0started by the UNESCO GEM Report to rectify the fact that, in Africa at present,\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/unesdoc.unesco.org\/ark:\/48223\/pf0000389481\/PDF\/389481eng.pdf.multi\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">only one in five children<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0can read with understanding and have acquired mathematical literacy. We join the call for\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.unesco.org\/gem-report\/en\/publication\/spotlight-basic-education-completion-and-foundational-learning-africa\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">all children to be given access to foundational learning.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Chess in Slums Africa champions foundational learning with #BorntoLearn\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fj7EWjHhUEo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"is-active\" data-contrast=\"auto\">Education for me is the capacity for thought. And a lot of the children we work with in Nigeria are not enabled to think for themselves because they are not in schools. Chess is a medium to teach them skills and enable them to be able to help themselves. Chess is helping them find expression.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">I knew that chess would give them a new identity that other people would respect. Instead of simply looking at a child\u2019s poverty or clothes, people would respect what that child was able to do. We have seen what children are able to do with chess when they are shown how; if all children had access to foundational learning in school, we would be astounded at what they\u2019re able to do. <\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;469777462&quot;:[6349],&quot;469777927&quot;:[0],&quot;469777928&quot;:[1]}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/world-education-blog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/chess-in-slums-3.png?w=948&amp;ssl=1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The children we meet with have dreams and ambitions. Some of them want to become doctors or teachers. Some of them want to become lawyers or accountants. But, for them, and for the other\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/education-estimates.org\/out-of-school\/\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">118 million children and youth out of school on the continent<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">, it is very unlikely that these dreams will become a reality because of their present circumstances.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;469777462&quot;:[6349],&quot;469777927&quot;:[0],&quot;469777928&quot;:[1]}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">For the longest time, many of them have been deprived of opportunities. #BornToLearn calls on governments to imagine what could be achieved if all children were to be given access to an education; access to skills that are relevant to their future. We hope this partnership will help bring the world to these children \u2013 to show them that it\u2019s possible to dream beyond the confines of their community.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;469777462&quot;:[6349],&quot;469777927&quot;:[0],&quot;469777928&quot;:[1]}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/world-education-blog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/BornToLearn_hashtag_long-scaled.png?resize=2560%2C560&amp;ssl=1\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Tunde Onakoya, founder of Chess in Slums Africa\u00a0 My name is Tunde Onakoya.\u00a0I am a professional chess player and a national master of chess. I\u2019m also the convener of\u00a0Chess in Slums Africa, a non-profit organization that uses the game of chess as a framework to give children skills who do not have access to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":38056,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"page_builder":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-children","category-our-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chessinslumsafrica.com\/our-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chessinslumsafrica.com\/our-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chessinslumsafrica.com\/our-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chessinslumsafrica.com\/our-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chessinslumsafrica.com\/our-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chessinslumsafrica.com\/our-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chessinslumsafrica.com\/our-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chessinslumsafrica.com\/our-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chessinslumsafrica.com\/our-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chessinslumsafrica.com\/our-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}