Education ministry distributes 6,848 footballs in 1,260 schools in Odisha

NEW DELHI: The school education and literacy department of the education ministry in collaboration with All India Football Federation (AIFF) and Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) distributed 6,848 footballs in 1,260 schools of 17 districts of Odisha. The Football for Schools programme was kicked off by the education minister Dharmedra Pradhan in December.

from the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS) nodal district with the presence of local dignitaries from various fields.

The school education and literacy department, AIFF and FIFA has launched the Football for Schools (F4S) programme for school students across the country. The programme aims to significantly broaden the accessibility of football for students, regardless of gender, within the school setting, while seamlessly integrating football-related activities into the education system in collaboration with various stakeholders.

The footballs were distributed in the districts of Odisha, Goa, Maharashtra, Gujarat and UT of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu in a phased manner. The agreement was signed between the education ministry, AIFF and FIFA on October 30. Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya is the nodal organisation for the F4S programme.

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Under this programme, more than 11 lakh FIFA footballs are to be distributed throughout the country in a phased manner. More than 1.50 lakh schools will benefit from this programme. As a part of the programme, to enhance capacity building, recently the department has conducted a master training programme at 3 venues, viz, Sambalpur, Pune and Bengaluru where around 300 physical education teachers/trainees from States/UTs, KVS, NVS and AIFF across India participated with an aim to learn from the best and further use their training and skills as Master Trainers at State level for further capacity building in the field.

Global programme

F4S aims to contribute to the education, development, and empowerment of around 700 million children across the world. It seeks to make football more accessible to both boys and girls by incorporating football activities into the education system, in partnership with relevant authorities and stakeholders.