A win for girls in rural Sri Lanka

The girls' cricket team at Al—Arsath Maha Vidyalaya, Samanthurai, in Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province, has set the trend of cricketing in the region.

Al-Arsath is a coeducation school with a student population of just over 1600. It caters to the Muslim communities in Samanthurai. In early 2022, the school was among 34 others in the province selected for UNICEF’s Sports for Development (S4D) programme – a programme aimed at providing children and youth more opportunities to participate in sports and benefit from its enriching environment and ability to bring together children from different backgrounds and abilities. 

This created an opportunity for girls at Al-Arsath to learn to play cricket, go on to form a girls’ cricket team—a first of its kind among Muslim schools in the province—and take part in cricket tournaments. Having gained exposure to playing cricket through the S4D programme, the girls have excelled in the sport, inspiring the community and other schools.

Yet, the girls' journey was not without its challenges. The team faced societal norms that discouraged girls from participating in sports. However, their unwavering courage and determination, coupled with the support from their parents and the school, allowed them to triumph over these barriers. Their success has inspired other schools to embrace women’s cricket and serve as a beacon of hope for other girls in their community.  

“Being a Muslim girl, especially in this community, I am expected to stay at home and help with household chores, like cooking. But women too have the right to play and go to school,” says 15-year-old Ms Fathima Hima, who captains the school team. Fathima is a huge fan of cricket and a keen follower of professional women’s teams from South Asia. She had always dreamt of playing cricket. Sadly, exposure to playing sports is not a privilege a girl from her Muslim community enjoys. So, when the opportunity to learn to play cricket came up, Fathima and her friends signed up eagerly.

“Even though none of us had played cricket before, we signed up purely for the love of the sport.”

“It was a dream come true for me. I was chosen as the captain of the team. I learned to manage both sports and studies. As a team, we learned to handle both victory and defeat.”

Despite the initial setbacks, Fathima and her teammates acquired invaluable life skills that enriched their characters and cultivated a positive outlook on life. “The programme gave us the opportunity to overcome social barriers and experience a life-changing encounter when we got the opportunity to meet students from other schools and communities at the provincial tournament.”

Their success in cricket also changed their community's perceptions to being more open-minded and supportive of equal opportunities for girls and boys to take part in sports. Today, the S4D initiative has encouraged girls in Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province to participate in sports, breaking traditional barriers that previously made it uncommon for girls, especially those from Muslim schools, to engage in sports activities. 

Mr. Saheed (40), the Assistant Director of Education and S4D Provincial Coordinator at the Department of Education, Eastern Province, explains, “We initially observed that students from Muslim schools were reluctant to participate in sports. But as a result of this programme, they have realized they too can voice their opinions to the world through these sports-related activities. The attitude shown by parents towards this programme has drastically changed. They are now thinking progressively.” Moreover, according to Saheed, in the Batticaloa District alone, all 64 schools in the Central Education Zone now boast of female cricket teams, demonstrating how the S4D initiative has influenced girls to participate in sports. 

For Fathima and her friends, beyond the joy of taking part in sports, the experience gained them valuable life skills such as teamwork, leadership, and resilience; they gained confidence, shattered stereotypes, and demonstrated the power of sports to overcome social barriers that restrict girls from reaching their fullest potential. The story of Al-Arsath’s girls cricket team is a testament to the transformative power of sports in empowering girls and fostering social cohesion.

The S4D programme was launched in Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province in 2022. It aims to provide children and youth exposure to sports' enriching environment. At the school level, it has reached over 17,000 students in 34 schools.  This program is supported by the Australian Government through the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP) and implemented by UNICEF Sri Lanka in partnership with the Provincial Department of Education, Eastern Province.