Lucknow: Gyansetu, a unit of Study Hall Educational Foundation (SHEF) organized its first sports day on Tuesday, March 14th at K.D Singh Babu Stadium. Over 680 children participated from six districts from 70 distinct locations. The sports meet was inaugurated by the Chief Guest, Mr. Ajay Singh, Principal, District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) along with the founder and CEO of SHEF, Dr. Urvahsi Sahni. Founded in 2011, GyanSetu has completed 10 years.

The event started with the zone display march followed by an invigorating yoga performance by the children. The highlight of the event was the hoop drill. The event was a mix of drills and races, and other PT displays. Taekwondo and tug-of-war races were the highlights of the day. The students were very excited about the relay events and obstacle races these events got the loudest cheers. 

Mr. Ajay Singh appreciated the hard work of children and teachers and said, “Children should be encouraged to participate in sports and more parents should let their children, especially girls, pursue sports as a career. Extracurricular activities are imperative for a child’s holistic development.” 

Dr Urvashi Sahni said, “We are thrilled to see our children perform so well. It’s an amazing experience for our children and this is the first time they are on field and have done so well. Through GyanSetu, we aim to educate every child, who for some reason has dropped out of school.”

GyanSetu is a cluster of community education centers in low-income communities and migrant labor colonies for out-of-school children. Currently, SHEF has 139 centers catering to over 4000 children in six districts of Uttar Pradesh. The GyanSetu program runs Early Childhood Development (ECD) centers, Primary centers, Digital literacy centers, Adult literacy centers, and a skill development center.

The sports event ended with the prize distribution and an energetic performance from Prerna Girls students. 

Photo courtesy: DSH Team