I was requested by the Vice-Chancellor to represent him as the Chief Guest for the official launching of the 1st Africa University Badminton Championships 2019. It was nice to see athletes (students) from different African countries and Reunion island. Hereunder the key essence of my speech. Such kind of events align perfectly with our key strategic thrusts related to internationalization of the University, Enhancing our students’ experiences on campus through sports and the promotion of intercultural exchanges.
We believe that the role of Universities is to provide a holistic education to our youth to make them more complete and capable as individuals to take up the challenges of life. This is why we have reviewed our curriculum model last year to promote a learner-centred approach while injecting significant funds to continuously improve our infrastructure for the benefit of our students.
Sports is a very important aspect to promote healthy living and to improve the quality of life of our population. A healthy population can contribute better to the development of a country and is an important indicator for prosperity, happiness and well-being. Promoting such a culture among our students and citizens will surely contribute to SDG3 - Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages and SDG 8 - Promote Sustained, Inclusive and Sustainable Economies. Sports play key roles in Gender Equality, the fight against poverty, and social inclusion amongst others.
Sports transcends race, communities, religions and nationalism (yes, i see Nationalism as a key hurdle to achieving global peace) to bring mankind together to overcome hurdles to building global peace and sustainable livelihoods for humanity.
