Education dept to establish indoor shooting range for govt students in dist: Bains

The Punjab school education department is set to establish indoor shooting ranges in 10 districts across the state, including one in Ludhiana, as announced by the state education minister Harjot Singh Bains on Wednesday, with an aim to provide players with state-of-the-art facilities to practice, along with coaching at the shooting ranges.

As per Bains, 10-meter ranges would be set up in a total of 10 districts, including Ludhiana, Sangrur, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ropar, Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar, Ferozepur, Hoshiarpur, Mansa and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, and at the shooting ranges, world-class facilities and training would be provided to the students.

However, coaches and students in the district mentioned that without the lack of adequate infrastructure, the dream of pursuing shooting cannot be fulfilled. One of the students said that the state-level tournaments could be arranged by the state government, but national and international-level tournaments take on a large expense and the government school students must be made aware of the same.

“Shooting is a dream for many which remains unfulfilled due to the expenses involved in purchasing weapons, travel, entrance fees which is charged per event if a shooter registers for the tournaments organised by the Rifle Association. Having a shooting range in a government school is an exemplary step but before making the students join the game, it is necessary to brief them and their parents about the expenses involved to continue the sport,” a 17-year-old shooter said.

One of the shooting coaches in the district lauding the initiative of the state government said, “This sport is majorly chosen by the students from well-off families due to the expenditure involved. If the government is planning to arrange weapons along with a dedicated coach for the government school students, it is praiseworthy, but ‘Khedan Watan Punjab Diyan’ would not be enough for the shooters as it is state level, the government must bear the expenses if any student contests at the national and international levels.”

District education officer (secondary) Dimple Madaan remarked, “This step is a part of the state government’s initiative of promoting sports culture, but we have still not received any official letter regarding the time period or name of the school in which the shooting range would be established.”