Tendulkar drives for Sri Lankan children’s development needs

Tendulkar visited several parts of the island on his visit and spent time playing a friendly cricket match with children on Tuesday

By Shehan Daniel
While recalling life lessons that helped him become the all-time leading run scorer in international cricket, former India captain Sachin Tendulkar highlighted the importance of focusing on the early moments, nutrition and education of children, during his United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) goodwill visit to Sri Lanka. 
A UNICEF South Asia Regional Goodwill Ambassador, Tendulkar visited several UNICEF programmes in the Sabaragamuwa Province, meeting children and parents impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and the 2022 economic crisis. 

He addressed the media on Tuesday, before engaging in a game of cricket with children from the UNICEF-supported Children’s Club network of the Department of Probation and Child Care Services, which though lacking competitiveness proved the ‘Little Master’ had not completely lost his mastery and skill with the bat in hand.
“From (being) a naughty kid I became more focused, channelized, for good reason, (because) I had a dream. I wanted to play for India. I started concentrating, being more disciplined, (having a) more structured life, and this was all because I wanted to play for India,” Tendulkar recalled. 
“I started planning but the most important thing was how to execute those plans out in the middle. And there were good days and bad days (but) because of my family I also learnt a lot in life to have balance between celebrations and disappointments. I went out and always tried my best, which is something my parents expected of me. They never questioned my failures, they always wanted to find solutions.”
“I felt whenever I failed I got back on my feet again, and competed hard in the fairest possible manner. All these things were not learnt in the classroom. But there was another classroom called the dressing room,” the cricketing legend, who quit the international in 2013, added as part of a broader point on the importance of education – more specifically the lack of it, in certain parts of the world. 

“Every child should have right to education, it is the foundation for every child. Due to the pandemic, schools, colleges, offices were shut, and what was the impact? Children without education and families without salaries. It’s a dangerous combination,” he said, though expressing his optimism that the use of technology could help bridge the gaps education in future.  
Speaking on the nature of his visit to the country, Tendulkar said, “Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit Ruwanwala, and spend time with school children which was an unbelievable experience. You learn a lot of things,” adding that he had also spent time with families in the tea plantation estates. 
Along with education, Tendulkar identified two other areas in a child’s development that needed special attention.
“80 percent of brain development happens in the first 1,000 days, in fact in the first two years after the baby is conceived, those are the most important years. The natural tendency is to focus on nutrition, but along with nutrition unknowingly something parents and family members ignore is spending time with the child. The time that you spend with them has an impact on their lives,” he said. 

Emphasizing the impact of nutrition, Tendulkar said,” “I used to play school matches and the tendency was at lunch time I would not have anything to eat. I would have a couple of soft drinks and continue batting. As the standard of playing got better and better I had to prepare myself better, but this preparation was something that I had ignored – not having properly having meals. That directly impacted my game. I got out after lunchtime, and the first thing I wanted to do was eat something. There was a lesson in that, that nutrition was important.”
“That was by choice, but unfortunately there are many families, due to economic challenges, they have no choice. Many households cannot afford to give quality or quantity of food to children, which really hurts. I am told by UNICEF Sri Lanka that many children have prevalence of wasting, many of them suffer from stunting, which is common in all developing nations. 
“There are so many people who are in a position to care, give and share. I am standing here to ask their support to have a positive impact on these children’s lives, who don’t have fair opportunities,” he appealed.