Odisha’s Chief Minister Shri Naveen Patnaik discussed the implementation of Olympic Values Education Program (OVEP) with Angelina Teo, Director of Olympic Foundation of Culture and Heritage (OFCH) and her team of delegates.
OVEP focuses on promoting certain transformative values amongst young school students, such as friendship, mutual respect, and striving for excellence. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has lauded this effort being made by the IOC
(International Olympic Committee) to promote the OVEP, whereas the delegates have appreciated the open-armed welcome and support extended by the Chief Minister for successfully implementing this unique initiative.
Since May 2022, 32000 children have been benefited by the programme after the Chief Minister had launched it in 90 schools in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela. This act had also made Odisha the first state in India to have implemented the OVEP successfully. The program aims to aid almost 1.5 lakh students across 250 schools in Odisha.
This initiative has been implemented with collaborative support from the Odisha Department of School and Mass Education (SME) and the Abhinav Bindra Foundation Trust. The OFCH is set to visit the OVEP-implemented schools on April 3 and 4, 2023.
The CM shared his decision to support the IOC’s Olympic Forest Program by planting more than 1 million trees this year. In light of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change in 2021, the IOC had committed to climate positivity in 2024.
IOC president Thomas Bach is set to visit India again this October for the IOC session in Mumbai. Chief Minister Patnaik has sent him a letter via the delegates inviting him to Odisha during his trip.
The delegation comprised of Angelina Teo, Director of OFCH-IOC, Frederique Jamolli, Head of International Cultural Affairs-IOC, Xenia Kourgouzova, Senior Manager of Education-IOC, and Olympic gold-medallist Abhinav Bindra, Founder of the Abhinav Bindra Foundation Trust.
