The Karnataka Government has introduced martial arts training programme for girls studying in 300 residential high schools and pre-university colleges across the State to provide self-defence skills.
Residential schools and PU colleges run by the Social Welfare and Backward Classes Welfare departments began imparting training for girls studying in Class VIII to Class XII. Female black belt instructors take classes of 50 minutes each for two days in a week.
Ten residential institutions have been identified in each district in the first phase. Instructors take classes in karate, judo, and taekwondo for 100 girls students each in two batches, an official told The Hindu .
Training has started in Morarji Desai, Kittur Rani Chennmma, Ekalavya, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, and Indira Gandhi residential schools overseen by the Karnataka Residential Educational Institutions Society (KREIS) headed by Minister Social Welfare and Backward Classes Kota Srinivas Poojary. Each instructor is paid ₹500 per class and travelling allowance of ₹100 and one instructor has been hired in each school. About ₹3.28 crore expenditure per year would be incurred for this. A sum of ₹1,09,600 a year would be released to select residential institutions from the central office of the KREIS.
“The girls will not only be trained in self-defence techniques, but will also be physically fit and healthy,” said the official. The athletic abilities developed in martial arts would carry over into other sports as well, the official said. Mr. Poojari held several rounds of meetings in preparation for the programme, he added.
For ensuring effective training during class hours, the school staff has been instructed to upload videos/photographs of training sessions and attendance in social media tools such as WhatsApp for monitoring by the central office of the KREIS, the official said.
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai would formally inaugurate the programme in one of the residential schools after the elections to the Legislative Council scheduled for December 10. The KREIS administers over 850 residential schools in the State and the programme would be extended to other schools in a phased manner.
