Maharashtra Government Is Planning To Make Self-Defense A Part Of The School Curriculum

The government of Maharashtra is taking into consideration making training in self-defense a part of the school curriculum in the state. Vinod Tawde, Maharashtra Education Minister gave this assurance in response to an online petition which is filed by a woman self-defense coach Neha Shrimal from Pune.

 

Last year in September in the petition posted on Change.org, Shrimal, a mother of a seven-year-old girl, had demanded to make self-defense training mandatory for all the schools in the state. Over 1.38 lakh signatures are received by the petition in support of the demand.

 

Shrimal in the petition gave an example of how an 18-year-old girl fought off three men harassing her and handed them over to police in Birbhum in West Bengal. She said that this brave student shows us that girls can be empowered to face these situations with confidence, rather than feeling scared, victimized, and helpless. She further added that over 53% of children in India face sexual abuse. Whenever any such incidence occurs, they just look at police and legal system for help. They never imagine that a girl can also possess the power to deal with such situations. She believes that every child should be trained for their own protection from an early age. She has asked Maharashtra Government to make self-defense training compulsory for all the students from 5th standard onwards.

 

According to her, self-defense is not martial arts, but a psychological, mental and physical preparedness for dealing with any danger from undesirable elements. Tawde said that the first petition which he has received is from a Pune citizen and a mother, Neha Shrimal. Lakhs of citizens have asked him to make self-defense training mandatory for all the schools in Maharashtra.

 

He further said that taking due cognizance of the petition, he is now considering running the programme and making it a part of the school curriculum. Therefore, it is recently decided to introduce an hour-long sports session for school students. Also, they are planning to introduce self-defense as a part of these sessions. With this, they have decided to initiate compulsory self-defense training in schools.

 

On contacting a senior official from the School Education Department, this is confirmed that the plan of state government is on in this regard. The department went through the issues which are raised on the online platform and they found merit in the petition. Therefore, we are seriously considering for the introduction of the self-defense session in the curriculum.

 

By: Preeti Narula

Content: https://www.timesnownews.com/education/article/maharashtra-government-plans-to-make-self-defence-part-of-school-curriculum/367345