Around 500 girls from different municipal schools across Mumbai gathered for a football match on Friday at the Karnataka sports ground in New Marine Lines. The event – Match Day 2024 – was not just a child's play, but a thoughtful initiative to encourage young girls to apply STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) skills to address climate change woes. The state government had also extended its support to the programme.
Outdoor School for Girls
NGO Going To School has come up with the idea – Outdoor School for Girls – to teach girl important life skills, aiming to show them the path to become successful entrepreneurs. Through the initiative, the NGO is introducing girl students from the civic-run schools to football while also developing sustainable enterprise skills. In the same regard, Going to School has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoUs) with the BMC as well as the governments of Karnataka and Goa.
Going To School CEO Lisa Heydlauff said, “We have been working with the BMC to engage with girls in government schools. For the first time in the government education system in India, girls are playing football and learning integrated STEM skills at school to solve climate change.”
Upcoming TV series to feature journey of these girls
At the Match Day 2024, members of the Mumbai City Football Club inspired the participants towards the sports. The players also felicitated 11 young girls from the Tilak Nagar BMC school, who have been designing problem-solving games to combat climate change while learning to play football. An upcoming TV series will feature the journey of these girls.
BMC Education Officer Rajesh Kankal said, “We think that all we read and write in books is education, but learning from the field matters the most as it teaches us life skills. I personally believe that skill development is the most important education.” Mumbai City FC Academy Director Dinesh Nair said, “Women's football is the fastest growing sport in the world and it feels so great to see so many girls playing football in Mumbai. Empowering girls through football isn’t just about giving them knowledge, it’s about giving them the tools to shape their own future and the courage to break barriers.”
