‘Rural children should be taught to have confidence, follow dreams’
New Delhi: Children from rural India are the ones who gets maximum medals in any international games and hence it is important to look up to them, their education, teach them to have confidence in themselves and lastly follow dreams, feel basketball player Pradyut Voleti and Roshni Misbah, a 23 year-old girl who is known as a Super Biker.
Both the sports enthusiasts are part of Liberty Shoes new campaign ‘Chal Badh Chal’ that focuses on encouraging children from different parts of India, especially the interiors, to follow their dreams.
When asked that how important is to educate rural India to have valuable self skills, Misbah told IANS: “It is equally important to educate every child of India both in rural and urban areas. Where it’s comparatively easier in urban cities to showcase the talent in front of people, it becomes challenging in rural areas to promote the same talent.
“So, rural children should be taught to have confidence in themselves and follow their dreams. It also becomes important for the families to support their children to live their dreams and fulfill their desires.”
Voleti feels that in India education is seen with very narrow perception.
“Education can happen in any domain, there are multiple horizons open nowadays for aspiring kids, which can lead them to a successful future and a pride nation. Along with education, co-curricular activities also become necessary to build the valuable skills among children. It is not hard to find talent in India.
“Only after children are brought to the environment they’ll know where their interest lies in. This will boost confidence in them and improve self-esteem,” he told IANS.
“Infrastructures are so grown in tier 1; we are hardly behind any developed top 5 countries in the world. But if you notice in any recent Olympics, any international games, the maximum scores are coming from tier 2/3, which makes a big statement – that we need to look up to them, their education, learning, training, right infrastructure, growth everything.
“Kids from rural areas are having big time aspirations in themselves; we just need to hold their hand, that’s it,” added Voleti , a 27 years old basket ball skill development trainer trained by the acclaimed NBA and Nike skills trainer Ganon Baker in the US.
Talking about their own life journey and passion, Misbah says that she was interested in bike riding since her teen days.
“I come from a middle class Muslim family, surrounded by a society which is conservative and has traditional mindset, who thinks that bike riding is not meant for girls. My father stood by my side because he trusted me and believed in my dreams.
“I have broken the stereotype of people saying that women are expected to only cook, get married and have children. Now people recognize me on the road, I see students waving at me, I also wave at them, I am practicing for race tracks, and soon I will be competing with all those macho bikers on the track,” she said.
Voleti , on the other hand, feels that Basketball has made his vision clear.
“For me, it’s not about winning or losing. For me, my dream is to put a basketball ring in every corner of the country. I work on this goal everyday and this has brought a visible change in my life,” he said
