If all goes well, Ghaziabad girls will soon be ready for any face off with anti-social elements.

To curb crime against women and to make girls self-dependent, self-defence lessons will be taught in various schools from March under Total Literacy Campaign. In the proposal made by Basic Education Department for 2011-2012, the National Programme of Education for Girls at Elementary Level (NPEGEL) has for the first time focused on providing self-defence lessons to girls. The camps for the same will be organised at different locations in Ghaziabad wherein girls will attain self-defence training.
"Not only after dark, girls are not safe during the day as well. As many young girls go to school during morning and return at afternoon, there is a strong need to provide self-defence training to them. The proposal for the same has been sent to Lucknow headquarters. As soon as it gets approved, we'll start working on the workshops," said Nagendra Kumar, district coordinator, girls' education.
As per the proposal, karate training will be provided in the schools at regular intervals. Moreover, for this purpose, experts in self-defence techniques have been scrutinised who once chosen will teach the girls.
The parents who have enrolled their kids in various self-defence classes with expensive fees can now heave a sigh of relief. "Conducting self-defence lessons in schools will help us save time and money and ease many of our problems," said Madhumita Chatterjee, a resident of Vaishali.
A budget of around Rs 60 thousand has been allocated for conducting self defence camps. The responsibility of the entire camp will be of district coordinator. Three big camps will be organised in schools in a year. Primary Education Officer Dr Dharam Veer Singh said, "We are planning to make it mandatory with studies in school. The self defence lessons will surely be of great help to girls."