Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan met the Secretary-General of FIFA, Fatma Samoura ahead of the FIFA U-17 World Cup

Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan today met the Secretary-General of FIFA, Fatma Samoura ahead of the FIFA U-17 World Cup.
The discussions centred around collaboration with FIFA and UNESCO’s Football for Schools Programme in schools across the country. Minister of State for Sports Nisith Pramanik, President of All India Football Federation Kalyan Chaubey and Secretary General, AIFF, Shaji Prabhakaran among others attended the programme.
In a joint press conference after the meeting, Dharmendra Pradhan said that the Football for Schools movement espouses the spirit of National Education Policy 2020 and promotes sports-integrated learning.
He said, it will boost the culture of sports in India and help in developing the skills of the students. Mr Pradhan said, the Government is committed to promoting sports and creating a mass movement for football, especially among school children.
Keeping in view the large network of schools, Ms. Samoura and Mr Pradhan agreed to take the Football for Schools programme to all the 700 districts in India.
Mr Pradhan informed that Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti would be the nodal agency on behalf of the Ministry of Education to take this initiative forward.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Nishith Pramanik said, this initiative will be a game changer for the future of football games. He also said, the Sports Authority of India will extend all support for this initiative.