The ground of Kendriya Vidyalaya 1, empty on any other Sunday, was abuzz with activity. The occasion was the Football for Schools programme, under which footballs would be distributed among other schools of the district and the chief guest had chosen a Sunday to come.
“This is the second phase of the programme and as the nodal institute, we are conducting the programme for government schools of North 24-Parganas. A total of 7,534 balls would be distributed among 32 schools,” said Sabiha Shahin, principal of the school. On the recipients’ list, there were seven schools from Salt Lake, including the host.
“Our inter-house football matches will start next week. We have both men’s and women’s teams,” said Swarnava Das, a Class XII student of Salt Lake Shiksha Niketan and a resident of Chingrihata. The school sports vice-captain is more inclined towards cricket, having played under-16 cricket for Bengal.
Principal Sabiha Shahin lights the inaugural lamp
Avinash Kumar Mallick of Class IX was to receive the allotment on behalf of KV from the chief guest, Samik Bhattacharya, a Rajya Sabha MP, who came over an hour late. “We are getting 12 balls,” said the midfielder who was selected in the squad for the KV city team in the upcoming national meet.
One school came all the way from Barrackpore. “Our boys play sub-divisional and inter-school tournaments,” said Pragati Kumar Biswas, physical education teacher of Haricharan Tarafdar High School.
Begum Rokeya Smriti Balika Vidyalaya too was represented although the school does not have a football team. “We play khokho now and badminton in winter,” said Class VIII student Dhanashree Roy, a resident of Labony Abasan, who was getting restive as the delay in the start of the programme meant she would miss her karate class. “We want to start a football programme,” said Kakoli Biswas, the English teacher accompanying her, on being asked what the school would do with the footballs received.
The chief guest delivered a speech and kicked off a football match using one of the new balls on the ground next to the stage. The match between the home team and Hariyana Vidya Mandir ended in the visitors winning 3-2.