Russian Minister of Education and Science Olga Vasilieva Promises to Include Chess into Elementary School Curriculum

It is supposed to be taught from 1st to 4th grade.

Vedomosti reports that the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation is planning to include chess lessons into an obligatory school curriculum in the next year or two. According to Moscow Agency, the Minister of Education and Science Olga Vasilieva stated this at the plenary meeting of the Federation Council. She said that it was supposed to teach children how to play chess from the 1st to the 4th grade, and the programme was rated up to 1 hour a week.  

«Playing chess is directly connected with the increasing of the quality of our children’s education», says Vasilieva. She calls a preparatory programme «very simple», thus every teacher can conduct chess classes following the given recommendations. The Minister doesn’t exclude the fact that chess can be added to the curriculum from next year. 

It is to be recalled that the Russian Chess Federation together with Elena and Gennady Timchenko Charitable Foundation issued a special learning kit Chess School for the 1st academic level (author is Vladimir Barsky). The book has already been  successfully implemented in several regions of Russia.