… Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Ansa McAl on board

PETRA Organisation added one more accomplishment to its already long list, when the entity officially launched its Inter-Primary Girls Under-11 Football tournament yesterday at the Girl Guides pavilion in Georgetown. 

The tournament which was endorsed by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health and sees sponsorship from Ansa McAl Trading (Smalta) and Health 2000 Guyana, will feature 12 primary schools battling it out in an ‘All Girls’ competition from November 14 to December 13.
St Margaret’s, Tucville, North Georgetown, South Ruimveldt, St Pius, Marian Academy, F.E Pollard, Enterprise, East La Penitence, St Stephen’s and Stella Maris are the competing schools.
“This is something we more than welcome and have been looking forward to for a very long time,” said Chief Education Officer (CEO) Olato Sam while delivering the feature address at the simple yet significant ceremony.
According the Ministry of Education’s C.E.O, sports is an important component in the school’s curriculum and as such, his ministry welcomes with open arms Petra Organisation’s innovative concept, more so since it helps in the development of the game among females.
A strong advocate for sports and its development, Sam described the Petra Organisation Girls Under-11 tournament as “ground-breaking”, adding “I’ve been challenging all stakeholders in sports and especially in football, to come up with a programme like this and let us work together. We’ve been working on this for a long time, since May actually, so, I’m glad that this is getting off the ground.”
Darshnie Yussuf, Public Relations of Ansa McAl Limited noted that her company was ecstatic with the idea, more so since it breaks the gender barrier in the sport and she further thanked Petra Organisation for coming up with the concept.
“Girls Under-11 playing football? When we got the proposal and we thought of it, we all loved the concept. I don’t want to come over biased but i think it’s nice to see for once some girls getting a chance to play because most of the times, most people focus on the men/boys so I must say thank you to Petra Organisation for this,” Yussuf said.
Co-Director of Petra Organisation Troy Mendonca said that the idea has long been toyed with and they are happy to finally see it happening while thanking all those who played a part in making it happen.
“We see our contribution to football as important since we contribute significantly in youth development. We must express gratitude to the Health Ministry, Ministry of Education and all others who played a part in helping us making this possible,” Mendonca said.
The participating schools were all given balls by the organisers to aid in their preparation prior to the kickoff on November 14. All matches will be played at the Girl Guides ground.

(By Rawle Toney)