New Delhi [India], November 25 (ANI): Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju on Wednesday launched the second edition of the "Fit India School Week" program.

The event was attended by Fit India Mission Director Ekta Vishnoi, CBSE Chairman, Manoj Ahuja, CISCE Chairman Dr G Immanuel, Dr Abdul Jaleel Marthya - Principal, MP International School, Kasaragod, Neeraj Singh - HOD PESports, Jaypee Public School, Greater Noida and students Prakriti Adarsh of Jaypee Public School, Greater NoidaYasir Ameer Ali of MP International School, Kasaragod and was hosted by sports anchor Manish Batavia.

The virtual event was conducted with the aim to encourage kids to inculcate physical activity and sports in their daily routine as school is the first place where habits are formed.

During the launch ceremony, Rijiju spoke about the importance of fitness in school life and said "students are the driving force behind making India fit and I am happy to see that so many schools have registered for Fit India School Week and the numbers are increasing day by day. This helps in achieving our target to make every Indian fit as the energy for it is generated from these schools itself."A lucky student, Prakriti Adarsh of Jaypee Public School, was also given the opportunity to ask the sports minister a question during the live session and she chose to ask him about his fitness mantra and how he has manages to look younger than his age.

Rijiju responded with laughter and said "I think I am a 25-30-year-old boy and follow whatever is required to remain fit. You need to always have the will power and passion for it."The Fit India School week program was launched in November last year and saw participation from over 15,000 schools across the country.

"Keeping the current pandemic situation in mind, this year's initiative has gone online and the proposed activities would be mostly conducted by schools on virtual mode," read a release by Sports Minstry.

"They then have to choose any one week in December 2020 to celebrate Fit India School Week and conduct daily activities from the list that has already been shared with them during the registration," it added.

Some activities that have been planned for this year's school week programme are - Aerobics, Painting, Quiz/Debates, Dance, Step-Up Challenge among many others. (ANI)