Sir Bobby Charlton juggles a football as young girls watch at a Unicef clinic

It?s soccer succour to keep the girl child in school.

In a novel alliance, Indian Football Association (IFA), the apex body which runs the sport in the state, has tied up with Unicef to promote girls? education through football.

The unique initiative, to kick off in Murshidabad schools, will commence with a five-day training camp, starting August 17, and IFA hopes to replicate the model in city schools as well.

Through the ?Teachers in Football? training programme, IFA will provide technical support for football training to primary teachers under the Sarba Shiksha Abhijan (SSA), government of West Bengal in Murshidabad to coach girl students with ?correct skills and techniques? necessary to play the game.

The partnership among SSA, IFA and Unicef underlines the importance of every child?s right to play, as stated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. ?Schools are not just about education, but also about the right to play. We feel football, which is so passionately followed in this state, can act as a powerful vehicle to help the girl student stay in school. It teaches you to work in a group and to accept victory and defeat with same poise,? Kiran Negi, advocacy & partnership officer, Unicef office for West Bengal and Assam, told Metro.

Based on a global accord between Unicef and the Federation International de Football Association (Fifa) forged last year, a pilot project was launched to ?harness the power of soccer to improve lives of children?. Fifa donated 600 sport-in-a-box kits to address critical issues like education for girl children and to establish gender parity. The kits contain ?everything needed to play the game? and encourage girls to play and study.

The coalition between Unicef and the state government began when 65 of these kits were handed over to Unicef West Bengal to help support girls? education and their right to play. Murshidabad and Jalpaiguri got 32 kits, as Unicef, already working to help improve education quality in 1,000 schools, decided to use this opportunity to add momentum to the push.

While Negi is keen to carry the project forward to Jalpaiguri next, IFA is confident the model can implemented in Calcutta girls? schools as well.

?We are aware of the passion pull of this wonderful game in this city. Working with Unicef, we can seed soccer on the turfs of city girls? schools, with all technical start-up support,? said IFA secretary Subrata Dutta.

In Murshidabad, the 40 teachers, eight among them women, will get trained in the five-day workshop on the various aspects of the game and also on how to inculcate a love for the game in children.

?We are willing to support the necessary coaching needs of physical trainers to encourage more children, especially girls, to play football at the primary level and at the same time, attend school regularly,? Dutta stressed.

The IFA has appointed as coaches for the scheme Kuntala Ghosh Dastidar, former India international and member of the Asian All Star Team, Pratima Biswas, Asian Football Confederation ?C? licence holder and Dipten Banerjee, who works with first division players in Calcutta.

As a gesture of thanks, SSA Murshidabad will pay an honorarium of Rs 1,000 per head per day for each coach, besides a pocket expense of Rs 200 per day.

These teachers will be ambassadors for sports and football in particular in their respective schools. Unicef aims to ?get all children to school, reduce gender gaps, ensure that they stay and are better equipped with the basic tools they need to succeed in life through a holistic approach in quality education?.