While with the ongoing football fever, Arunachal Pradesh is all set to become the first state in the country to start Football for Schools (F4S), an ambitious programme by FIFA in collaboration with UNESCO.
The Arunachal Pradesh government will soon launch a programme to promote football in 200 schools of the state.
According to education minister Taba Tedir, A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was inked between the FIFA and the union education ministry to promote football among children through The ‘Football for School’ programme, a first-of-its-kind initiative.
The education minister further said that The ‘Football for School’ programme, a first-of-its-kind initiative, will aim to groom budding talents in the age group of 6 to 13.
A meeting chaired by Tedir was held on Monday on the issue. During the meeting, officers of the education and the sports departments, and members of the Arunachal Pradesh Football Association (APFA) were present in the meeting. The meeting was also attended by All India Football Federation (AIFF) treasurer and APFA secretary, Kipa Ajay who said that the Centre will provide financial assistance, while FIFA will distribute the sports gear.
The aim of the project is to contribute towards education, development and empowerment of around 700 million children globally, while making football more accessible to both boys and girls by incorporating the popular game in the education system.
Education minister Taba Tedir added that Arunachal Pradesh is aspiring to become the first state in the country to launch the football training programme in its schools. The Arunachal state government is planning to complete the selection of the schools by December and then invite Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan to launch the programme in January next year. The education minister further informed about the tentative dates for launching the event scheduled between January 15 and January 20 next year.
As per the criteria, “Schools to be selected must mandatorily have playgrounds .Moreover preference will be given to schools having more than 50 to 100 children .The minister stated that a 20 by 30 meter playground will be enough to start the training programme. Besides government schools with already appointed physical education teachers are will be prioritized.
The education minister also added that if sports infrastructure is available in private schools , then private schools are also likely to be selected for the programme.
