Girls in Surat’s government schools to undergo ‘Rani Laxmi Bai Self-Defense’ training

Surat (Gujarat): You might catch a glimpse of the great freedom fighter Rani Laxmi Bai in the girls studying in Surat’s government schools next time. Around 85,000 girls enrolled in the Surat Municipal Corporation’s (SMC) Nagar Prathamik Shikshan Samiti (NPSS) secondary and higher secondary schools will receive ‘Rani Laxmi Bai Self-Defense’ training twice a week.

Official sources said the self-defense training will be imparted to about 85,000 girls in the higher secondary and second sections in about 247 schools run by the SMC across Surat. The training will be given by the qualified trainers of the Surat police’s Suraksha Setu initiative.

The girls will be trained in self-defense techniques including punching, blocking, wrestling, Judo and Karate, fight-Karate, and other martial arts techniques.

The Rani Laxmi Bai Self-Defense training programe is part of the Samagra Shiksha project of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. Samagra Shikha, Gandhinagar informed the SMC authorities to form a committee for imparting self-defense training to the girls studying in government schools.

Launched in 2018, Samagra Shiksha is an Integrated Scheme for School Education. Samagra Shiksha has emerged through the integration of – Centrally Sponsored Schemes of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), and Teacher Education (TE). Samagra Shiksha aims to provide inclusive and equitable quality education to all children from the age of 4 to 18 years and at all levels of school education from preschool to Senior Secondary in the country following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG-4) for Education.

A meeting in this connection was held under the leadership of SMC’s deputy municipal commissioner on Thursday. Officials from the Education Department, the Police department, and the senior SMC officials participated in the meeting to chalk out the plan for imparting self-defense training to the girls on Thursday.

The main purpose of the self-defense training is to develop the leadership qualities and skills of the girls and to train them in self-defense techniques to increase their self-confidence.

The entire training program will be monitored by the Urban Resource Coordinator of the Shikha Project, Cluster Resource Coordinator, assistant coordinator for Girls’ Education, and additional district project coordinator.