BHUBANESWAR: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday launched India’s first Olympic Value Education Program (OVEP), an initiative to teach life skills to children through sporting activities.
The government will implement the programme in 90 schools in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela in collaboration with the International Olympics Committee (IOC) and Abhinav Bindra Foundation Trust (ABFT).
The special curriculum aims to disseminate value-based education to help children become active, healthy and responsible citizens. Speaking on the occasion, Naveen said, “Sports is an important part of our vision for education and personality development in Odisha. We have always strived to achieve excellence in education sector as well as in sports. This will be the beginning of a new Olympic movement in the country. We thank the IOC for partnering with us in this endeavour.”
In its first year, the programme aims to touch the lives of 32,000 children enrolled in 90 schools — 63 in Bhubaneswar and 27 in Rourkela — with a target of reaching around 7 million children in future.
Odisha plans to take OVEP to all its schools and higher education institutions in a phased manner.
