mumbai taking a cue from the recent incidents of violence against girls inside and outside schools the central board of secondary education cbse has asked all its affiliated schools to impart selfdefence lessons to female students it has suggested introducing a weeklong session at the beginning of both terms and inclusion of regular classes and noncontact sports for girls of class i to x safety of children is of prime concern to all stakeholders it is an unfortunate reality that in todays world the safety of our children is often at stake some recent incidents have accentuated the need to ensure safety of girls this is an issue which requires immediate attention teaching girls to defend themselves is a useful means to empower them in this regard the board is of the opinion that inclusion of selfdefence activities for girls is highly desirable stated joint secretary d t sudharsan rao in a recently issued circular while not mandatory the cbse has suggested a twoweeklong training session for all girl students at the beginning of both the terms also referring to an earlier advisory which had said that there should be at least 4045 minutes of physical activity or a games period every day the board has now suggested that one of these periods may be earmarked for selfdefence activities this will ensure that after the initial weeks training girl students stay continuously updated with knowledge strategies and skills for selfdefence noncontact sports may be considered for training girls in selfdefence said rao schools have also been advised to invite experts from the neighbouring police station or to use locally available resources for this exercise selfdefence training will equip girl students with useful strategies to defend themselves from spontaneous or premediated violence and abuse these strategies not only involve physically tackling threats to safety but also the ability to identify and avoid potentially unsafe circumstances it cultivates in individuals the ability to remain alert yet calm at all times said rao several city schools said they have already introduced selfdefence classes in some way or the other we held a workshop a year ago and have recorded it the video is available online for students to refer to it said avnita bir principal r n podar school santacruz at ramseth thakur public school in kharghar activities such as karate judo and fencing have been introduced for the past twothree years we have included martial arts in the curriculum which students practice in one of the games periods every week said principal raj aloni