Describing the health and education of children as the cornerstone of national development, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has inaugurated the final stages of a massive nationwide youth sporting initiative.
His remarks come ahead of the 2026 Primary School Gold Cup Football Tournament for boys and girls, which will kick off on Saturday. In a public address, Rahman outlined that traditional academics must be paired with cultural, creative, and athletic pursuits to foster a highly skilled, confident, and well-rounded future generation.
He described the expansive football competition as a highly positive intervention for holistic student development.
The sporting drive is a core component of the administration’s “Sobar Agey Bangladesh” (Bangladesh First) manifesto, which mandates a comprehensive modernisation of the country’s educational framework. As part of this structural overhaul, disciplines including football, cricket, swimming, chess, and karate are being formally integrated into the national curriculum, spanning from the fourth grade through to higher secondary education.
By embedding physical activity directly into the academic structure, the government hopes to address modern public health and social concerns. The prime minister highlighted that mandatory practical assessments in physical education are strategically designed to counter rising societal challenges, specifically aiming to curb excessive mobile phone dependency and the ongoing threat of youth drug addiction.
The logistical scale of the government-backed initiative is unprecedented. According to official policy guidelines, the tournament has secured the participation of all 65,569 state-run primary schools, drawing in an estimated 9.9 million young athletes.
With nearly 124,000 preliminary matches already completed across the country’s rural and urban districts, the event ranks as one of the largest organised youth football tournaments globally.
Concluding his address, Rahman wished the upcoming matches success and expressed optimism that the nationwide competition will serve as a vital incubator for talent. He shared his hope that the initiative will ultimately produce a new generation of skilled athletes capable of representing Bangladesh on the international stage, while simultaneously building a healthier, more resilient workforce for the nation’s future.
