Gender Equity Movement in Schools

This training manual aims to support facilitators to initiate discussions on gender and violence in schools. This is based on the intervention research project – Gender Equity Movement in Schools (GEMS) – that was implemented in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) schools by International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), Committee of Resource Organizations (CORO) for Literacy and Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), for students in Grades VI and VII in select schools of Mumbai.GEMS builds on successful efforts in India to foster more gender equitable attitudes and behaviors among youth, and used group education activities (GEA) and campaign to engage students in the school setting.

The GEA used participatory methodologies such as role plays, games, debates and discussions to engage students in meaningful and relevant interactions and reflection about key issues of gender and violence. These sessions were conducted during regular school days. Each session lasted for about 45 minutes. The first year covered three themes: gender, the body and violence. The sessions in year 2 focused on deepening students' understanding of gender, building understanding and skills around relationship, emotion and communication to respond positively to discrimination and violence. A total of 25 sessions (10 in year 1 and 15 in year 2) were conducted. The GEMS school campaign was a week-long series of events designed in consultation with the students and involved games, competitions, debates and short plays. Both the GEA and the campaign were developed based on findings from formative research.