First Education News

The Government of Maharashtra is considering to make self defence as a part of school curriculum in the state. Maharashtra Education Minister Vinod Tawde gave the assurance in response to the pitition filed by a women self defence coach from Pune.

Mrs. Shrimal, a mother of seven years old girl and the self defence coach had filed a pitition on change.org and has got 1.38 lakhs signature

According to her, self defence was not martial arts, but a psychological, mental and physical preparedness to deal with any danger from undesirable elements.

When contacted, a senior official from the School Education Department confirmed the state government’s plan in this regard.

“The first petition that I have received is from a Pune citizen and a mother, Neha Shrimal. Neha and 1.37 lakh citizens have asked me to Make self-defence training compulsory for all the schools in Maharashtra. I have heard you and 1.37 lakh citizens,” replied Education Minister Tawde.

Tawde also commented, “Taking due cognisance of the petition, I am now considering running the programme, and making it a part of the curriculum. We recently decided to introduce an hour-long sports session for school students. And we are planning to introduce self-defence as a part of these sessions. With this, we have decided to start mandatory self-defence training in schools.”

Already, schools in Mumbai, such as Brahman Shikshan Mandal School in Thane and Anjuman-I-Islams Schools are teaching martial arts like taekwando as a part of curriculum.

The Decision of state government is appreciated by all the stakeholders of Education.

Mrs. Zulekha Siddiqui, Principal of Anjuman-I-Islam’s A.A.K. School Vashi said “Training in self defense is the need of the hour. With growing crime against children and adolescents, both boys and girls, it is imperative that this be made a part of co-curricular activities during the formative years of schooling. Self defence will go a long way in not just protection of an individual but also help in character building, elevated self esteem and a strongly motivated ‘Gen X’ – the future of our nation… It will help create ‘Global Citizens’! A great initiative by the Ministry of Human Resources and Development!”