Sports for a Better Tomorrow

My name is Aniketh Mendonca and I work as a Gandhi Fellow in the Kapkot Block of Bageshwar District in Uttarakhand. We work closely with the teachers in Government Primary Schools, to help improve the quality of education in the area.

During my interventions in schools - over 15 schools across Kapkot block, I noticed that the children do not have access to structured development of Life Skills.

According to the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) guidelines, life skills training is an effective tool for empowering the children which in turn helps them act responsibly and less likely to resort to anti-social behavior.

CCE guidelines talk about the following life skills:

I believe that the Beauty of Sports along with reflection by students can be used as an effective tool to facilitate the development of life skills in school children.

To test this hypothesis, I had a co-ed cricket match held between two schools in Supi – Government Primary School Supi vs Government Primary School Talai - on the International Day of Sports for Development and Peace. (https://www.sportanddev.org/en/article/news/cricket-game-weplaytogether) I noticed children display glimpses of various life skills over the course of the game. I feel that the use of sports will be an ideal tool to amplify these skills in the children.

To do so, I have written a booklet with 13 games, indigenous as well as well known games customized to meet the space constraints. This booklet will be printed and distributed in over 700 Government Primary as well as Government Junior High Schools in Uttarakhand.

The cost for this is close to Rs. 35,000 which includes translation, designing the booklet, printing and distribution of the same.

Any Help from you would go a long way in helping these 

children lead better lives in the future.