On the occasion of National Sports Day, a Bal Sabha was organized by Department of Panchayat and Rural Development in almost all district panchayats on Thursday.

Similar Bal Sabhas were also held in all districts of the state under the guidance of Department of Panchayat and Rural Development in collaboration with the Department of School  Education and UNICEF. This initiative is to promote the Localization of Sustainable Development Goals thematic area- Theme 3 Child-friendly Panchayats. Bal Sabhas are an important step in strengthening the role and active participation of children in the Gram Panchayats development process.

Since the day is celebrated as the National Sports Day in the country, this was also taken up as an opportunity to emphasize on the importance of sports in the overall development of children and to improve the way sports culture is looked at in villages. It also helped emphasize the importance of schools that can play an active role in promoting sports culture.

As per the plan, some games were also organized with children in which the participants enthusiastically participated.

The children raised issues related to their overall development such as having a separate playground for girls, provision for girls’ cricket, arrangement of coaches for several sports, and proper facilities of play for hostel students. Few children brought up their issues in front of the Sarpanch and school administration which were noted down and taken into consideration.

This program was done under guidance of CEO Panchayat District Bhopal and UNICEF along with  the teachers and students of Maharana Pratap Higher Secondary School, Phanda, Varsha Solanki, Sarpanch, Gram Panchayat, Phanda and others participated enthusiastically.