Friday, December 21, 2012

Self-defence: An essential education

The recent Delhi gang rape incident has been one of the biggest shocks for the nation. From the moment I read about the incident on facebook, my mind has been in complete unrest thinking about this incident. All media are reporting the consequences of the havoc caused by inhuman beings. People are protesting on streets, online and police are trying their best to capture the criminals. Amidst all these one thought that was prodding my mind was 'What can I do about this incident?' Yes! I can participate in any of the marches or campaigns and show my support against this inhuman act. What next? was the next question. Will just the punishment to the criminals be a permanent solution for such a problem?

That is when this big problem showed itself as the subset of one more bigger problem that has been infecting our 100 crore plus population. Rapes, murders, blackmails, human extortions, etc, a lot of such henious crimes are executed on common public. It might be almost non-existent or very meagre of such incidents with the trained police or military, the simple reason being these trained people know to defend themselves well. On the other hand the common public seems very weak in front of the minds which have decided to harm others. Not all criminals who commit crimes are well-versed in the fights. They are just one step ahead in thinking to harm the other person, that's it. The victim is among the general public who has no training to even combat an attack except very few who might have learned some martial arts. So the base problem lies at the incapability of the common man to defend himself under attack. This is the problem which I want to address.

Our education system is so well designed from nursery upto Ph.D to defend ourselves from illiteracy. Very few schools/colleges/ institutions have the concept of teaching self-defence to students as it is not at all a part of our curriculum. The physical education performed in schools hardly can reduce the weight of obese growing kids. Today's need of physical education is that of defending from any kind of attacks even from weapons for that matter. The world is not safe as it seemed earlier due to over population combined with lack of sufficient resources for all compounded with human greed and most important of all due to the lack of humanity. Just complaining against government or police or the public who stood silent while the hazardous crime was happening right in front of their eyes cannot solve the problem from the roots. Just like how the victim is afraid, likewise the public watching is in front of the muscle or weapon bound evils.

I want to propose that self-defence must be included as part of the education curriculum right from childhood by the education ministry. It can be any of the Indian martial arts or karate or kung-fu or taekwondo or kickboxing or anything that can make a person capable enough to defend oneself under any sort of physical attack. More than self-defence the real teaching of these martial arts inculcates the spirit of a warrior in every soul that undergoes the training. If people are trained right from childhood, not only will they defend themselves but shall even jump out to help others under trouble. I am tired of hearing statements which shout that every individual should be a soldier in himself/herself. How can it happen if the soldier is not trained at all?

Unfortunately in a country like India where more focus is given on bookish studies both by the parents and teachers its hard for students to even devote their time and energy for sports. So very less percentage of parents enroll their children for martial arts outside school. Then what about the rest? I believe that a man should be well-equipped with both mental and physical skills to protect himself from both types of problems and there is no other better place than school where a child spends more than a decade of the most precious early time of its life completely dedicated for learning. So self-defence must be taught right from 1st std to every kid be it boy or girl to help a strong man/woman step out of school by 18 who is strong enough to face the real cruel world. I am on my way to promote this mission of getting self-defence training inculcated in the education system under physical education section with a vision to see a nation full of soldiers. IF YOU ARE WITH ME, do show your support by messaging your ideas and opinions on is.mohanbn@gmail.com

2 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks a lot Rithesh! Please pass on this message to as many as possible if you also support this idea strongly.

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