Australia and India should come together to skill workforce in sports sector : Australian High Commissioner

New Delhi : India by 2022 would require around 4 million skilled workers to fill sports related professional vacancies in diverse capacities. This provides a great opportunity to industry to skill workers to meet the rising demand, said Harinder Sidhu, Australia’s High Commissioner to India, at the ‘Australia-India Sports Partnership Meet’ on the theme ‘Importance of Sports Education’ organized by FICCI jointly with the Australian Government.

Sidhu said that India was at the cusp of a boom in the sports arena as the country had begun appreciating the importance of promoting and encouraging sports at the grassroots level. Development of industry in sports would not only provide economic but social opportunities.

The need was for the government, industry and the youth of the country to work in tandem. Referring to the sports agreement between the prime ministers of India and Australia, Sidhu said that it would enable India to develop opportunities through connecting Australia’s global reputation for sports excellence and expertise with India’s ambition to improve its sports administration and  infrastructure.

The aim of this partnership is to build capacity in the sports sector in India around the skills enhancement framework established by the Indian Government and learn from the experience and expertise of Australia which has done tremendously well in these areas. The outcome of the meeting would be linked with FICCI’s Sector Skills Council in Sports, Physical Education, Fitness and Leisure for skilling development in India.

The Guest of Honour from Australia Adam Gilchrist AM, Australia India Education Ambassador & Former Australian Cricketer, said that sports was a burgeoning sector in India. The Guest of Honour from India, Ajay Jadeja, Former Indian Cricketer, said that sports was an essential aspect of learning and education but in India it was being treated as an extracurricular activity and this needed to change.

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