Context
Recently, the Ministry of Education has signed an MoU with Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and All India Football Federation (AIFF) for the ‘Football4Schools’ initiative in India.
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What is the Football4Schools Initiative?
- The Football4Schools program is a step towards translating the Prime Minister’s vision of making sports a way of life as well as creating well-rounded citizens.
- It aims to empower 25 million young boys and girls in India through sports-integrated learning.
- It espouses the spirit of National Education Policy (NEP), 2020.
Objectives
- Empower learners (boys and girls) with valuable life skills and competencies.
- Empower and provide coach-educators with the training to deliver sport and life-skills activities.
- Build the capacity of stakeholders (Schools, Member Associations and public authorities) to deliver training in life skills through football.
- Strengthen the cooperation between governments and participating schools to enable partnerships, alliances and intersectoral collaboration.
About FIFA
- FIFA is the highest governing body of football in the world.
- It is the international governing body of association football, futsal, and beach soccer.
- FIFA is a non-profit organisation.
- Founded in 1904, FIFA was launched to oversee international competition among the national associations of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
- FIFA now comprises 211 member nations.
- It is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland.
About AIFF
- The AIFF is the organization that manages the game of association football in India.
- It administers the running of the India national football team and also controls the I-League, India's premier domestic club competition, in addition to various other competitions and teams.
- The AIFF was founded in 1937, and gained FIFA affiliation in the year 1948, after India's independence in 1947.
- Currently, it has an office in Dwarka, New Delhi.
- India was one of the founding members of the Asian Football Confederation in 1954.
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