BCCI: The International Cricket Council (ICC) and UNICEF have collaborated to produce a set of eight online learning modules aimed at educating children and youth on important life skills and the importance of gender equality. The Ministry of Education, Government of India, has supported this project.
This online life skills learning program, dubbed ‘Criiio 4 Good,’ was launched on September 28 with the goal of fostering gender parity among both girls and boys.
The event was co-hosted by the Indian Ministry of Education and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in Ahmedabad. Smriti Mandhana, India’s women’s vice-captain, led the inaugural sessions, giving these modules to nearly 1000 schoolchildren at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
The ‘Criiio 4 Good’ program includes of eight sport-for-development modules, each centred on gender equality themes, creating awareness about the issue and emphasising the importance of giving equal opportunity for both boys and girls in India. These lessons are imaginatively structured within the framework of cricket.
The program contains eight animated videos that employ innovative animation techniques and cricket-related examples to highlight specific life skills to make these topics exciting and accessible to children and youth.
Leadership, problem-solving, confidence, decision-making, negotiation, empathy, teamwork, and goal setting are examples of these qualities. Extensive study into local cultural subtleties is also included in the text.
The Ministry of Education intends to disseminate these modules to over 1.5 million schools across India via the Diksha platform, ensuring the initiative’s long-term viability beyond the Cricket World Cup.
Furthermore, all eight learning courses are free to access on the Criiio website in three languages: English, Hindi, and Gujarati.
Smriti Mandhana applauded the program for its creative approach, which uses cricket to teach important life skills and increase gender parity among both girls and boys.
“I am immensely proud to support the ICC and UNICEF together with Ministry of Education and BCCI on the Criiio 4 Good initiative,” Mandhana said.
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"The modules are extremely engaging, and they use the power of cricket to talk about essential life skills and gender equity, among girls and boys in a fun, interactive way. Both girls and boys must be equally supported to reach their full potential, in sport and in life. This is an effort to give message out in a simple and engaging manner.”
Jay Shah Secretary of BCCI spoke about how the program promotes both cricket’s values and vital life skills.
"The Cricket World Cup is set to inspire the children of India over the course of the next two months and this initiative is a landmark step towards empowering the youth of our nation," Shah said.
"Criiio 4 Good not only promotes the values of cricket but also imparts crucial life skills, including the significance of gender equity. It's a significant stride towards building a more equitable and enlightened future for our children."
According to ICC Chief Executive Geoff Allardice, the program demonstrated ICC’s ongoing commitment to encouraging good change.
“For the last eight years, the ICC and UNICEF have been leveraging the scale of our global cricket events to improve the lives of children and youth around the world," Allardice noted.
"Criiio 4 Good illustrates our continued commitment to fostering positive change through what promises to be the biggest ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup ever.”
For more details head to ICC’s official website.