Dance and sport based international programme to spark gender equality conversations in classrooms.

British Council, the UK’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations, announced the launch of its international gender-education programme – Changing Moves Changing Minds (CMCM) – in Mumbai. This globally successful programme will be implemented in 1187 Mumbai municipal corporation run schools starting October 2019 with the support of programme partners - Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) Gem and Jewellery National Relief Foundation (GJNRF).  Terence Lewis, renowned contemporary dance choreographer is the brand ambassador for the programme.

CMCM is an international education programme that is conceptualized and delivered by British Council, the Royal Academy of Dance (UK) and the Marylebone Cricket Club (UK) that attempts to break gender stereotypes amongst young children at an early age. CMCM has a six- week curriculum using ‘cricket-dance methodology’ that challenges gender stereotypes through sport (cricket) and dance as a medium, promoting positive gender roles in children and enabling young people to realise their potential and fulfil their aspirations. 

The programme is designed for children in the age group of 10-12 years from Std V, VI and VII and aims to reach more than one lakh students in Mumbai through 120 master trainers and 2374 teachers. Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) and Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) have together co-trained master trainers and these master trainers will cascade this training to schoolteachers who will then deliver the learning to students.

The launch event at BMC English High School, Worli was honoured by the presence of Shri. Aditya Thackeray, Shivsena Leader & Yuvasena President along with Shri. Praveen Pardeshi IAS - MCGM, Shri. Sanjay Kothari - Chairman, GJNRF, Barbara Wickham OBE - Director, British Council India and Terence Lewis. 

“Changing Moves Changing Minds is an innovative project which targets gender stereotypes at an early age and ensures gender equality. We are happy that British Council and Gem and Jewellery National Relief Foundation have come together for this cause. We would like to upscale this project across Mumbai municipal schools “said Shri. Aditya Thackeray, Shivsena Leader & Yuvasena President

“We are very happy to get associated with British Council and also thankful to GJNRF for supporting this cause. We are hopeful that with this intervention, children studying in BMC schools would get exposure of beyond the classroom activities which would help them to understand gender stereotypes and how to address them.” said Praveen Pardeshi, Commissioner, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.

“As part of our work partnering with State and Municipal Governments on their education reform agendas, I am delighted to be working with Mumbai Corporation on this exciting project to be delivered across government primary schools in Mumbai. The British Council has worked with the Royal Academy of Dance and Marylebone Cricket Club to bring their exciting Changing Moves Changing Minds project to India. This uses cricket and movement to challenge gender stereotypes in the classroom, help girls and boys better understand each other   and encourage every child to reach their full potential.” said Helen Silvester, Director West India, British Council.

“We believe that proper education is need of the hour for our country and joining hands with British Council is a good opportunity for us. British Council trained master trainers will train the teachers of Municipal schools and in turn these teachers will train students. We are happy to get associated with them and hope it will go a long way in education system of Municipal schools.” said Sanjay Kothari, Chairman Gem and Jewellery National Relief Foundation. 

Terence Lewis, renowned contemporary dance choreographer and the brand ambassador for the programme said, “I feel happy to be associated with the International gender-education programme by British Council called Changing Moves Changing Minds (CMCM) that challenges gender stereotypes through dance and sport (cricket) as a medium, promoting positive gender roles in children. Being a role model for the youth across the country and having judged and mentored young talented kids on television, I feel a programme like this running at the grass-root level where gender stereotypes are common, is much-needed. It has the potential to be a real game-changer and hence as a public figure and role model, I take this as my responsibility to promote and support this program so that it can reach a wider audience.”

The CMCM programme by British Council has been piloted in other Indian cities already and has received tremendous success on sensitisation and delivery parameters. Pilot projects have demonstrated that the ‘cricket-dance’ methodology is a unique concept that has the potential to be gender transformative. 90 percent of participating students reported that they preferred cricket and dance to be taught together over individual dance or cricket classes and 98 percent of children felt that teachers showed no partiality in the delivery of the CMCM class which is a testament to the success of the project. While over 80 Master Trainers have been trained across Odisha, Maharashtra, Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore so far, the current programme is the largest CMCM programme in India so far with an aim to train over 120 Master Trainers in the city.