In less than a year, the ITTF School Programme has evolved from a pilot initiative into a programme active in six countries across four continents. Namibia, Grenada, Guatemala, Kyrgyzstan, Togo and Pakistan are part of a strategy that has already given 518 boys and girls the opportunity to discover table tennis in 21 schools, through 168 training sessions. More than simply adding a new activity to the school calendar, the programme seeks to create the conditions for the sport to remain in communities once the initial intervention has ended, providing equipment and tools to those responsible for continuing the process.
The programme is structured around three-month cycles, with two or three 45-minute sessions each week, focusing on fun, inclusion and skill development. To support this work, the ITTF has coordinated efforts with its member associations, schools, local clubs and education ministries, placing particular emphasis on teacher training and the availability of infrastructure and equipment. The tables, rackets and balls provided to schools are not simply resources for the sessions: they represent a way of leaving behind a capacity that can continue to be used by new students. Girls account for 46.9% of participants, while cooperation with the International School Sport Federation (ISF) expands the possibilities of bringing this model to other education systems.
Six countries and different ways to grow table tennis
The results show that the programme takes on different characteristics depending on the reality of each community. In Namibia, eight schools welcomed 147 students and held 33 sessions, with female participation reaching 56%. The local response went beyond expectations: some schools purchased additional equipment, restored old tables and adapted dining tables to create training spaces. Saturday practice sessions also emerged, while parents volunteered to support training. Six participating schools have already registered for the national primary school competition, in a particularly significant development as female participation surpassed male participation for the first time.
In other countries, the impact took different forms. Togo initially reached nearly 1,000 schoolchildren across three pilot schools, with 123 children subsequently completing the programme, while in Pakistan, 80 students from four schools incorporated table tennis into their regular sports activities. In Grenada, 32 students from three schools showed particularly visible improvements in concentration and discipline, to the point that the schools continued the table tennis activities independently without external intervention. In Guatemala, meanwhile, internal competitions transformed the students’ initial interest: those who began playing for fun discovered the competitive side of the sport and started training with greater commitment.
Teacher training and new opportunities for young players
Kyrgyzstan completes the experience of the six countries currently participating in the programme, with 109 children from four schools taking up table tennis, many of them for the first time. The process also helped identify four young players with sporting potential, who subsequently began receiving specialised training. This link between schools and sports development environments is one of the areas the ITTF seeks to strengthen: allowing a first encounter with a sport to open pathways towards clubs, competitions and more advanced development programmes. The experience shows that a school initiative can also serve as a gateway to identifying abilities that might otherwise remain outside sporting pathways.
The expansion has also been supported by training for those working directly with students. At the end of 2025, Uganda became the first setting for cooperation between the ITTF and the ISF, while in July 2026 the partnership reached India with an ITTF PTT Level 1 course held in Noida. The training brought together 19 physical education teachers and coaches from nine states and was led by Christina Chee of Malaysia, also incorporating adapted table tennis content. Initiatives of this kind aim to ensure that knowledge remains within school systems and that teachers have the tools to continue teaching the sport beyond the programme’s initial stages.
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