IOC, under Thomas Bach, and Reliance Foundation join hands to promote Olympics’ Programme for schoolkids

IOC president Thomas Bach, who attended an event along with Nita Ambani, says there are plans to promote the programme across the state of Maharashtra soon, the agreement will focus on grade-specific activities.

Nita Ambani and IOC President Thomas Bach during an event at Reliance Corporate Park, in Navi Mumbai | Photo Credit: PTI

The International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Olympic Museum and Reliance Foundation on Monday entered into an agreement to promote Olympic values through sport among children in the Mumbai region.

While there are plans to promote the programme across the state of Maharashtra soon, the agreement will focus on grade-specific activities in selected schools, sessions between athletes and students to promote physical activity and raising awareness about Olympic values.

“They have the potential to reach 17.5 million children across Maharashtra and with the Abhinav Bindra Foundation in Odisha, there is potential to reach another seven million children. Most of these children are coming from the underprivileged section of the society and they get access to sports for the first time, sports education and the Olympic values,” the IOC president Thomas Bach, who attended the event along with Nita Ambani, IOC Member in India and Reliance Foundation Founder Chairperson, said.

The Olympics Value Education Programme (OVEP) was launched in India last year with the Abhinav Bindra Foundation in Odisha.

While addressing the media, Bach stressed on the worldwide impact of the programme, drawing reference to the agreement with the Abhinav Bindra Foundation in Odisha that has reached ‘unprecedented heights’.

“The OVEP brings both sports and education together. With this partnership, we can hope to positively impact the 250 million school-going children of India, reaching out to the remotest villages and regions of India, giving them options of a more disciplined, healthier, fitter and more wholesome lifestyle.

Children are our future and we need to give them the right to education and the right to play,” said Ambani.

To mark the occasion, around 80 Reliance Foundation Young Champs students took part in games alongside more than 100 children from Reliance Foundation schools and their NGO partners. Together, they depicted the integration of Olympic values into both modern and traditional Indian sports such as kho-kho, gully cricket and mallakhamb.

Bach played football and cricket with the students and urged them to take sports seriously, going forward.