Valorant has officially entered the classrooms of Philippine schools, with teachers reportedly using the tactical shooter to demonstrate teamwork, communication, and strategy skills among students.
The unusual crossover between gaming and education recently caught widespread attention online after reports surfaced of a middle school lesson centered around Riot Games’ popular FPS.
On July 2nd, X user Justin Banusing shared a picture of the pages from the Philippines Department of Education’s Matatag Curriculum, showing a lesson on “promotion of digital wellness through Valorant” in a Grade 10 lesson.
While we’ve seen teachers demonstrating lessons on subjects like history with the help of video games in the past, Valorant becoming a part of an official classroom lesson still comes as a surprise to the gaming community, given its competitive nature and strong association with the esports scene.
Through the aforementioned lesson on Valorant and its game mechanics, students are taught to “demonstrate respect and fairness during online matches and tournaments,” “practice teamwork, communication, and time management in facilitating an esports event,” and “manage an esports event applying its concepts and principles.”
Valorant isn’t the only game on the syllabus, either. Students have to go through a wider module on e-sports and e-health tied to promoting wellness through active living, and educators have the freedom to choose from popular gaming titles such as Dota 2, LoL, and Minecraft. This particular school picked Valorant, which could be due to the game’s rising popularity among Filipino teens.
Over the past few years, we’ve seen esports and gaming in general rapidly shift from a niche hobby to a mainstream part of everyday life. Now, with games like Valorant being implemented in schools’ official coursework, that influence is clearly extending beyond entertainment and potentially as a tool for positive change.
