New Delhi, Feb 11 (IANS): Education Ministry on Sunday said that the Football for Schools (F4S) programme aims to significantly broaden the accessibility of football for students across the country.

The ministry said that the Department of School Education and Literacy of Education Ministry in collaboration with All India Football Federation (AIFF) and Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) has launched an ambitious programme -- Football for Schools (F4S) -- for school students across the country.

The ministry said that the programme aims to significantly broaden the accessibility of football for students, regardless of gender, within the school setting.

“The prohramme will seamlessly integrate football-related activities into the education system in collaboration with various stakeholders,” the ministry said.

It said that under the programme, on February 9, around 6848 footballs were distributed in 1260 schools of 17 districts of Odisha.

“The footballs were distributed from Nodal district NVS with the presence of local dignitaries from various fields,” the ministry said.

The ministry said that the kick-off of the distribution of balls was launched by Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on December 2, 2023 from JNV Cuttack, Odisha.

“The footballs have also been distributed in the districts of Angul, Dhenkanal and Deogarh in Odisha; and Goa, Maharashtra, Gujarat and UT of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu in a phased manner,” the ministry said.

The ministry said that the department has also conducted a master training programme at three venues -- Sambalpur, Pune and Bengaluru.

“There around 300 physical education trainees and AIFF across India which participated with an aim to learn from the best and further use their training and skills as Master Trainers at state level for further capacity building in the field,” the ministry said.

It said that the F4S aims to contribute to the education, development, and empowerment of around 700 million children across the world.