Odisha To Extend Olympic Values Education Programme To 250 Schools

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government will extend Olympic Values Education Programme (OVEP) to 250 schools to cover 1.5 lakh students.

This was revealed during a meeting of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik with a team of delegates led by Director, Olympic Foundation for Culture and Heritage (OFCH) in Bhubaneswar on Sunday. They discussed the OVEP being implemented in the state.

Odisha was the first state to implement OVEP in India with the Chief Minister launching the initiative in May 2022. Since then, 32000 children have been impacted by the programme which was introduced in 90 schools across Bhubaneswar and Rourkela.

The initiative is being implemented in collaboration with the Department of School and Mass Education (SME) and the Abhinav Bindra Foundation Trust.

The delegates appreciated the support extended by the Odisha government in making this programme a success. The OFHC members would visit the OVEP intervened schools in Bhubaneshwar on April 3 and 4.

Naveen welcomed the efforts of the IOC to promote the OVEP among the school students with focus on the values of Friendship, Excellence and Respect.

The delegates also expressed their happiness over the decision of the Chief Minister to support the Olympic Forest Network program of the IOC through more than 1 million trees plantation this year. The IOC had earlier announced its commitment to be climate positive in 2024 in alignment with the Paris Agreement on Climate Change in April 2021.

The Chief Minister handed over the delegation a letter inviting IOC president Thomas Bach to Odisha when he comes to India for the IOC session in Mumbai later this year in October.

The delegation included Angelita Teo, Director of Olympic Foundation for Culture and Heritage – International Olympic Committee; Frederique Jamolli, Head International Cultural Affairs, IOC; Xenia Kourgouzova, Senior Manager Education, IOC and Olympian Abhinav Bindra, Founder, Abhinav Bindra Foundation Trust.