When a six-year-old was kidnapped in Kollam late last year, Minna Renjith, a class 5 student of Christ Nagar Central School, asked her mother why a self-defence module was not included among the subjects taught in schools. So when Jinu Rani George of Peroorkada saw a poster about Jwala 2.0, the State police’s free self-defence training for women and children, this past weekend, she promptly brought Minna along to learn some techniques to face any violence or atrocity or get out of sticky situations.
Ms. George feels that all school students should be given this training without fail. Crimes against women and children are on the rise, especially with the increase in use of social media use, she says.
The Jwala walk-in training was organised by the State police as part of its community policing programme Janamaithri Suraksha at Venganoor on Saturday and at Government Higher Secondary School for Girls, Cotton Hill, in the city on Sunday in connection with International Women’s Day.
Jayamary A., assistant sub-inspector, Aneesban A., civil police officer; and Athulya V.J., civil police officer, led the training at Cotton Hill school. Among the attendees was a handful of young children who were very keen on learning how to protect themselves.
Ms. Athulya said their team conducted self-defence classes for institutions, residents’ associations, and martial art schools. While the walk-in training was just an orientation on what could be done to ensure personal safety, a detailed 20-hour module provided practical training to those interested.
Ms. Aneesban said the orientation was intended to provide basic awareness of how to defend oneself in a situation where no one else was around to provide help. Often, women panicked and did not react, increasing the possibility of victimisation. To avoid this, awareness of one’s immediate environment and those in it and alertness to any possibility of danger was important.
To prevent sexual harassment in public places, a confident body language, staring back at the perpetrator, and using sound to dissuade the attacker and draw the attention of people nearby were some psychological techniques that could be employed. If nothing worked, then physical defence by attacking the perpetrator’s vulnerable areas such as eyes, nose, ears, throat, sternum and groin could be adopted.
The trainees were given awareness of how the back of the head, teeth, back of the hand, fingers, palm thrust, side of the palm, fist, elbow, knee, and feet could be used for self-defence. This was followed by practical training in various techniques for self-defence and the various situations they could be confronted with.
The target group was women and children who had no knowledge of martial arts and could be equipped to react in time to escape any untoward situationx. At the same time, the idea was to avoid any prolonged confrontation, even if a woman or child had martial arts training, dissuade the attackers with self-defence techniques, and escape to safety.
Swathi G.S., a teacher at a school, found the training invaluable. “This is my first such experience. Reading about such incidents around us, I realised I had no idea what to do in such situations. Practical experience of how to go for an attacker’s vulnerable parts was very useful. I want to get some more training.”
Ms. Aneesban said nearly two lakh women had been trained in self-defence techniques in Thiruvananthapuram alone, while across the State, the number was 14 lakh. Each district has a four-member team of women police personnel who had been given special training to become master trainers. The team was also given refresher training annually.
Published - March 05, 2024 07:30 pm IST
