Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday asked primary school students to groom themselves as worthy citizens of the country by paying attention to study, sports and cultural activities.
“Sports are the means of physical exercise. Sports bring mental strength and make minds more liberal… Alongside sports, you will have to pay attention to studying as well. You will have to prepare yourselves as worthy citizens of an independent country,” she said.
The prime minister was addressing the prize distribution ceremony of Bangabandhu Gold Cup Primary School Football Tournament 2022 and Bangamata Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib Gold Cup Primary School Football Tournament 2022 at the Army Stadium in Dhaka.
She hoped that the children of Bangladesh will display excellent performance in every sector including study, sports and cultural practices. She also hoped they will bring dignity for the country by joining international competitions.
“Today we have built the country as Digital Bangladesh. But we will build the country as Smart Bangladesh in the future. You will be the main strength of Smart Bangladesh,” she said.
Sheikh Hasina asked the children to maintain a disciplined life always, obey their guardians, teachers and parents, maintain good terms with their peers and behave well with disabled persons including autistic ones. “You all will have to prepare yourselves with a human quality.”
The prime minister stressed the need for larger sports competitions like inter-school, inter-upazila and inter-district, inter-college and inter-university competitions in the country.
She at the same time put emphasis on cultural practices, reading storybooks, history, science and technology books alongside the textbooks.
“You will have to prepare yourselves as a whole. Keep in mind from now on that you will be the most qualified and will build yourselves as the worthiest citizens,” she said.
Earlier, the prime minister enjoyed the second half of the grand final held between Nalma Government Primary School (Ghatail, Tangail) of Dhaka division and Bancharampur Model Government Primary School (Brahmanbaria) of Chittagong division.
Bancharampur Model Government Primary School clinched the title of Bangamata Gold Cup 2022 defeating Nalma Government Primary School in the match.
Purba Panchapukur Primary Government School (Nilphamari Sadar) of Rangpur division won the title of Bangabandhu Gold Cup 2022 beating Binodpur Collegepara Govt Primary School (Rajbari Sadar) of Dhaka division in the final match.
A total of 11,13,993 boys from 65,529 schools and 11,13,976 girls from 65,528 schools participated in the countrywide tournaments, arranged by the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education.
The prime minister distributed prizes and medals among the members of the champion and runner-up teams of the two tournaments.
In the Bangabandhu Gold Cup Tournament, highest scorer (4 goals) Jahim and best player Monirul Islam, both from Purba Panchapukur Primary School, received the golden boot and the golden ball alongside prize money respectively from the prime minister.
In the Bangamata Gold Cup Tournament, highest scorer Nur Nahar Akter of Bancharampur Model Primary School and Rumi of Nalma Primary School received the golden boot and the golden ball along with prize money respectively from Sheikh Hasina.
State Minister for Primary and Mass Education Md Zakir Hossain and Primary and Mass Education Secretary Farid Ahmed spoke at the function.
Noting that she is a member of a football family, Sheikh Hasina said her grandfather, father and brothers – Sheikh Kamal and Sheikh Jamal — used to play football. “Today’s modern football in Bangladesh is the contribution of Sheikh Kamal.”
She said Abahani Krira Chakra was developed at the hand of Sheikh Kamal. “He had contributed to the development of the sports in this country,” she said, adding that Kamal and Jamal were involved in all sorts of sports, including football and hockey.
The prime minister said Kamal’s wife Sultana was a sports personality and Jamal’s wife Rosy was also an expert in sports.
“So, I am a person of a football family. My grandchildren love to play football as well and they play football. Sheikh Rehana’s grandchildren also play football.”
Coming to power in 2009, her government started the development of sports from the grassroots and introduced inter-school sports competitions, she added.
The prime minister hoped that more outstanding players would come out from the primary school football competitions and brighten the image of Bangladesh through their performance in international competitions.
“We perhaps will play in the world cup one day. The world cup players will be prepared gradually here and come out,” she said.
The prime minister congratulated the champions and the runners-up in the tournaments.
