At a time when safety of the girl child is increasingly coming into focus, the Chennai Corporation is set to start imparting training for girl students of its schools to help them cope with challenges pertaining to harassment.
The civic body will rope in martial arts trainers who will adopt Corporation schools in their neighbourhood for the training that will be imparted free of cost.
Starting Tuesday, the trainers will impart skills of Krav Maga, a martial art from Israel, to girl students in the age group 13-16.
The civic body is also exploring the options of teaching other martial art forms and integrating the training sessions with school education. Based on feedback from teachers, students, trainers and volunteers, a suitable design will be adopted to suit the school curriculum.
“Girl students in Chennai Corporation School in Thiruvanmiyur will get training for one hour a day for a year. More schools will be covered, shortly,” said an official.
Organisations to pitch in
Social service organisations will also be involved in the programme aimed at preventing harassment of girl students in existing social conditions.
“Volunteers from various professional backgrounds will also participate in the sessions. A number of girl students in the Corporation’s schools are likely to feel empowered with such education combined with martial art training,” said the official.
The Corporation runs 282 schools in various parts of the city.