Mahdi Amin Urges Focus on Journey Behind 22-Lakh-Student Football Tournament, Not Just Final

Prime Minister's Adviser Mahdi Amin on Thursday urged greater attention to a national primary school football tournament that drew more than 22 lakh students from across Bangladesh, saying the scale of participation and months-long journey from local competitions to the national stage deserved wider recognition.

Speaking at a press conference at the Secretariat on June 18, Amin said more than 11 lakh male students and 11 lakh female students from 65,342 schools participated in the tournament, which began on April 6. Students competed at union, upazila, district and divisional levels before reaching the national stage. The final will be held on June 20 at the Army Stadium, with the Prime Minister attending as chief guest.

"You always want to catch only the final," Amin told journalists in the room. He said the absence of coverage was conspicuous given that the tournament connected over one crore people across Bangladesh in some capacity, with more than four lakh teachers directly involved in the process alongside the competing students.

Amin said the government's next step is to arrange FIFA-affiliated global training camps for the winning teams. He said the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education is working on sending the champion squads to international training programmes or bringing world-class coaching to them, citing the rise of Bangladesh's women's football team as evidence that a school-to-national-team pipeline is achievable.

He described the Prime Minister's education vision as one that moves children away from mobile phones and tablets and into structured, creative activity. Sports, he said, builds team skills, discipline and interpersonal ability that classroom instruction alone cannot develop. Cultural education builds values. The two together, alongside core academic subjects, form what he called a complete education package.

Adviser further announced that two new subjects, Sports and Culture, will be introduced from Class Four in primary schools from the next academic year. From Class Six, two additional subjects will be added: Learning with Happiness, a structured framework for joyful collaborative learning, and Technical and Vocational Education, which will become compulsory for all students rather than optional as it currently stands. He said the goal is real-world connectivity, with more internship and apprenticeship opportunities, and education that prepares students for life rather than only for certificates.

A second national event takes place on June 29 at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Convention Centre. The Startup, Science Project and Innovation Idea Showcase, which began June 12, drew participation from 521 upazila education offices. Around 12,000 teams registered, each with three students and two teachers, meaning roughly 36,000 students and 24,000 teachers participated.

The top 100 teams will present before the Prime Minister, who will recognise winners and provide pathways for commercialising their ideas. On the same date, 29,631 schools across Bangladesh will simultaneously hold a tree-plantation drive. The Prime Minister will plant trees in person at the central venue while other schools participate virtually.

Amin asked journalists to feature the competing children by name and face in their coverage. He said national recognition through media is what transforms a government programme into a movement. His target for the next football tournament cycle is 50 lakh student participants.