Nagpur: Union sports minister Kiren Rijiju on Wednesday attended a virtual event to celebrate the concluding week of the second edition of Fit India School Week programme. The event started on December 1 and will conclude on January 31. It was conducted with the aim to encourage kids to inculcate physical activity and sports in their daily routine as school is the first place where habits are formed.
The event saw engagement from over 3.5 lakh schools across India, who reported participation from thousands of students across the country. Looking at the current pandemic situation, the events of the School Week were conducted both on the virtual and on-ground platforms, wherever permitted by local authorities.
The Fit India School Week program was launched in November last year and had seen participation from over 15,000 schools across the country. To participate in the program the schools register themselves on the Fit India website and choose one week during the allotted time to celebrate Fit India School Week. Some fitness activities that were part of this year’s school week programme were — aerobics, painting, quiz/debates, dance, step-up challenge among many others.
To celebrate the Fit India School Week program, a live virtual demonstration of the event was given by the students of Kendriya Vidyalaya-2, Naval Base, Kochi who performed surya namaskar, free-hand exercises, aerobics, dance, and extempore performance online.
Appreciating their performance, Rijiju said, “While we run The Fit India Mission, it is being driven by the education ministry, the schools and the people of India, especially the children. I am so happy to see that schools across India have adopted Fit India Week celebrations in such a way that fitness has become an integral part of school life and I relish the movement when I join such active and intelligent students. While attending the event in person, one gets a different dimension and practical feeling. I could feel the vibe of the school week celebrations in Kochi, while sitting here in Delhi.”
Also present during the virtual event were Sports Authority of India (SAI) director general Mr Sandip Pradhan, joint secretary (development), MYAS Mr Atul Singh, KVS commissioner Ms Nidhi Pandey, joint secretary (DSEL), ministry of education Mr Santosh Kumar Yadav and other dignitaries.