Visakhapatnam: Former England football captain and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador David Beckham visited a girls’ residential school near Visakhapatnam this week, drawing international attention to how project-based learning (PBL) is reshaping classrooms in India.
Beckham spent several hours at the MJPAPBCWREIS residential girls’ school in Kothavalasa, a town close to Visakhapatnam, where classrooms have adopted PBL under a partnership between Mantra4Change, the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Andhra Pradesh Backward Classes Welfare Educational Institutions Society, and Education Above All (EAA).
Programme officials say the initiative is part of a larger push to upgrade teaching methods across Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha and Nagaland. Under this effort, project-based learning has already been rolled out in 107 residential schools in Andhra Pradesh, benefiting nearly 18,000 students and more than 100 school principals and teachers.
Inside the ‘new-look’ classroom
Beckham began his visit by sitting through a live PBL session, where students worked in teams, led discussions and applied reasoning to subject-based assignments. He then toured an exhibition of projects in English, Mathematics and Science, as students explained how they connect lessons to real-life situations.
In the school library, the former Manchester United star joined a reading circle, speaking to the girls about the books that inspire them. Outside, he participated in a tree-planting activity, where students showed how each sapling is tagged with a digital identifier, blending environmental awareness with basic tech literacy.
The visit ended on familiar ground — the football field. Beckham joined a one-touch football drill, to the loud cheers of students who tried quite literally to “bend it like Beckham”.
Beckham’s message and social response
Sharing moments from the visit on Instagram, Beckham wrote that it was a “great day in India going back to school supporting Education Above All’s project-based learning initiatives so much fun,” underlining his support for education-focused programmes.
P. Madhavi Latha, Secretary of MJPAPBCWREIS, called the surprise visit “a proud moment” for the society and said that project-based learning has “energised classrooms” across their residential schools.
Andhra Pradesh Human Resources Development Minister Nara Lokesh thanked Beckham on X, noting that his “heartfelt interactions, encouragement and playful energy lit up our classrooms and playground” and that the lessons students learnt from the experience are ones “they will carry with them for life.”
A case study in classroom innovation
Education experts involved in the programme say the visit has amplified a quiet but significant shift in government-run schools from rote learning to hands-on, inquiry-driven projects that aim to build confidence, collaboration and problem-solving skills among first-generation learners.
For the students of Kothavalasa, however, the day was simpler to describe: it was the afternoon when a global football icon walked into their classroom, listened to their ideas and then joined them on the field.
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