Self-defence is of utmost importance in the kind of the world we live in today. It is especially important for women, generally referred as the weaker sex and are considered easier targets. In our country India where the cases of gender violence are on rise, out of which so many go unreported, self-defence for both men and women has become a basic requirement. It is a necessity for the women of our country because of the increasing number of heinous crimes like rape, molestation, kidnapping, murder, acid attacks, eve teasing, sex trafficking and so many other being committed on them.
The crimes like child abuse and child trafficking are also a very serious issue for our country which exposes both young boys and girls to a dangerous world. But because of these fears and crimes we cannot sit back at home and stop living our lives. It is the time when each one of us should know how to fight back for our safety. Self Defence training is the answer for this. But not everyone has an access to these classes, regardless of them being paid or free. I hereby request the HRD Ministry to make Self Defence a compulsory subject in school so that the young boys and girls, men and women of our country are competent enough to safeguard themselves.
It can be started right from the First Standard till collage level. For this the help of ex-service men and women from Military forces can be taken. There should be no fees for this training in both private and government schools so that the lower income strata can also benefit themselves from this. Self-defence education should become mandatory in the schools and colleges so that they need not to look for anyone’s help at the time of any unexpected attack on them and can become self-reliant and can also become helpful for others as well at the time of some problem. Young girls should be given formal training of self-defence techniques including the training of Judo/Karate/Marshall Arts/Basic defensive techniques; right from their early age (6-14 years) because at this time the body is also flexible and it can easily adopt and implement the various forms and positions of the techniques. Teachers and the trainers should be strict and disciplined in this area and should motivate and counsel the girls to learn all the defensive technique in a proper manner. Even if a single member of family has this training he/she can pass it on to others as well. If HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar understands the urgent need of this change in our school education system our country will feel safer when it steps out in the present world of competitive education. It will be a big step towards a safer nation to live in.
(The author is student at Law Department at Kashmir University. Views expressed by the author are his own waniaquib08@gmail)
