Going To School, In Partnership With The Government Of Karnataka, Oracle, BT Group, The British Asian Trust And Bengaluru FC Soccer Schools Kick Off Match Day 2026 In Bengaluru.

Bengaluru, Karnataka, 28th of February, 2026 : Going to School, through an MOU with the Government of Karnataka, brings dynamic future-ready skills to school for girls in Grade 5-10 Government Schools.

The Outdoor School for Girls (and boys), supported by exciting partnerships with Oracle, BT Group, The British Asian Trust and Bengaluru FC, is designed to equip her with the skills she needs to transition from grade to grade and one day soon, to make the jump from school to the future of work or sustainable enterprise start-up of her choice, in the city.

Through design-driven stories, games, football and technology, young people learn the skills they need to be able to access new green jobs and create new sustainable start-ups that solve for climate change and create green jobs.

Match Day brought together 2,000 girls and boys, their teachers, 100 volunteers from partner organizations and all of our partners in dialogue with young people, from fun Q & A’s on the pink and green football stage, to nine tents for coding challenges led by Oracle and BT Group volunteers, the Bengaluru FC women’s team showed us all the power of the great game, to bring us all together to play, learn and design for city-wide inclusion and change.

February 28, Bengaluru: Going to School, a creative not-for-profit trust, in partnership with the Government of Karnataka, Oracle, and British Telecom (BT) Group, the British Asian Trust and Bengaluru FC kicked off Match Day, an ecosystem celebration and collaboration for girls, boys as allies to girls, life skills, digital skills, education, sport, the city, climate change and technology.

It’s always a good day when we get the chance to go outside and play, together.

Taking place at the Jay Prakash Narayan Sports Ground in JP Nagar, Bengaluru, and welcomed over 2,000 girls from 18 government schools. Placing girls at the center of their story, the day featured a unique blend of sports and technology. Key partners, including Oracle, BT, Bengaluru FC, and the Government of Karnataka, were on the stage answering questions from the crowd of children in a fun Q&A session, then it was time for everyone to hit the pitch and complete the coding challenges in the nine tents and every 15 minutes switch to play football.

36 teams of children, with embedded volunteers, moved through the playful tech and football challenges led by a DJ, two MC’s and two giant leaderboards that showed which team had won that round.

Following the opening Q&A, the “Game On: Climate Change Games began”. Young people participated in a dynamic rotation of challenges, mini football matches run by Bengaluru FC coaches and coding challenges led by Oracle and BT volunteers. The coding stations were hands on enabling children to build calculators using AI and designing quizzes for climate and smart city solutions.

In keeping with its theme, Match Day 2026 was a ‘zero-plastic’ event. A sustainable and locally sourced lunch was served on leaf plates, and climate action messaging was integrated throughout the venue.

The ‘Outdoor School for Girls and Boys, which Match Day celebrates delivers sport (football) combined with digital, life, STEM, and Sustainable Entrepreneurial skills through an integrated curriculum for girls in Government schools from Grades 5-10. The program is designed to equip girls with the skills they need to complete their education and transition to kick-starting sustainable enterprises that solve for Climate Change and create green jobs in the city.

“BT’s long-standing partnership with Going to School is a source of great pride for all of us and also of  real joy for all our volunteers who regularly contribute their skills to The Outdoor School for Girls. They truly help bring digital skills to scale through sport, bringing to life BT’s ambition for digital inclusion for all ,” said Ian McBride, Head, Social Impact, BT Group, India.

“Match Day is always a great day. It’s the chance for us all to come together, outside, offline to talk about the future skills we all need to make real for ourselves and young people, to play, learn, play, laugh out loud and out of breath, let go and smile widely. Match Day gives us a chance to figure out how we’re going to play together when everything comes out to play at the same time, life skills digital skills, football, technology, AI, climate change, education, ensuring girls complete school and dare to become city-changing entrepreneurs. We’re over the moon to be able to partner with the Government of Karnataka, Oracle, BT Group, the British Asian Trust and Bengaluru FC, we couldn’t do this without you, thank you for unwavering support and for coming out to play today, it means the world to us,” added Lisa Heydlauff, CEO, Going to School.

The Outdoor School for Girls works in Bengaluru and Raichur, North Karnataka, with an exciting MOU that enables the project to deliver dynamic skills to girls and boys during school hours, with football and excitingly to expand to five rural districts in Karnataka over the next three years.

BT Group is the UK’s leading provider of fixed and mobile telecommunications and related secure digital products, solutions and services. BT Group consists of four customer-facing units: Consumer serves individuals and families in the UK; Business covers companies and public services in the UK; International serves multinational organisations headquartered outside the UK and overseas public sector customers; Openreach is an independently governed, wholly owned subsidiary wholesaling fixed access infrastructure services to its customers – over 700 communications providers across the UK.

British Telecommunications plc is a wholly owned subsidiary of BT Group plc and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group. BT Group plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange. For more information, visit www.bt.com/about

Oracle Volunteering. Oracle Volunteers worldwide share a common goal: Do well by doing good. Each year, they donate their time and skills to support hundreds of nonprofit organizations and public institutions, positively impacting tens of thousands of lives annually.

The British Asian Trust is a UK-based, diaspora-led international development organisation founded in 2007 by a group of British Indian business leaders, driving sustainable and long-term social impact across education, child protection, livelihoods, conservation, and mental health. The British Asian Trust is driven by the belief that complex social challenges require systemic, collaborative solutions – beyond traditional approaches to philanthropy – and brings deep expertise in outcomes-based finance and large-scale programme delivery.

Going to School is a creative not-for-profit education trust that makes design-driven stories to equip young people, especially girls, with the dynamic skills she needs to stay in school and transition from school to sustainable enterprise of her choice solving for the dual challenges of our time, youth unemployment and climate change. www.goingtoschool.com

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