Bhubaneswar: A delegation led by Director Olympic Foundation for Culture and Heritage (OFCH) on Sunday met Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and discussed the Olympic Values Education Programme (OVEP) being implemented in the state.
The delegation included Angelita Teo, Director of the Olympic Foundation for Culture and Heritage – International Olympic Committee; Frederique Jamolli, Head of International Cultural Affairs, IOC; Xenia Kourgouzova, Senior Manager of Education, IOC; and Olympian Abhinav Bindra, Founder, Abhinav Bindra Foundation Trust.
Welcoming the members, Chief Minister Patnaik applauded the efforts of the IOC to promote the Olympic Values Education Programme among the school students in Odisha with a focus on the values of friendship, excellence and respect.
The members appreciated the support extended by the Chief Minister and the Government of Odisha in making this unique programme a success.
Noteworthy, Odisha was the first state to implement OVEP in India and Chief Minister Patnaik launched the initiative in May 2022. Since then, 32,000 young children have been impacted by this programme introduced in 90 schools across Bhubaneswar and Rourkela. The programme is all set to scale up and impact more than 1.5 lakh school children in 250 schools in Odisha.
The members of the Olympic Foundation for Culture and Heritage will be visiting the OVEP intervened school in Bhubaneshwar on April 3 and 4, 2023.
The initiative is being implemented in collaboration with the Odisha Department of School and Mass Education (SME) and the Abhinav Bindra Foundation Trust.
The delegates were delighted by the decision of the Chief Minister to support the Olympic Forest Network programme of the IOC through the plantation of more than 1 million trees this year. The IOC had announced its commitment to be climate positive in 2024 in alignment with the Paris Agreement on Climate Change in April 2021.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik handed a letter to the delegation inviting the IOC President Thomas Bach to Odisha when he comes to India for the IOC session in Mumbai later in October this year.
The delegation expressed its pleasure to see the support of the state government towards sports and promoting Olympic values. The Chief Minister thanked the delegation members for their visit and committed to supporting more such projects in Odisha.
