Concerned PETs urge Samagra Shiksha to ensure proper conduction of martial arts training in Coimbatore schools

The Physical Educational Teachers (PETs) in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, have approached the Samagra Shiksha, which is an "overarching programme for the school education sector extending from pre-school to class 12" (as mentioned by the Samagra Shiksha website), urging it to ensure that martial arts training for girl students was properly being conducted in the city's schools. The Samagra Shiksha is an initiative of the central government's Ministry of Education (MoE).

"Martial arts training is conducted for Class IX and X girl students at government high and higher secondary schools every year. However, a majority of Headmasters (HMs) did not conduct this training for students in the academic years of 2020 -2021 and 2021-22 due to COVID-19. But a fund of Rs 9,000 was allocated to 174 schools in Coimbatore in these last two academic years. Despite the fact that a few HMs in the city conducted this training in the 2021-22 academic year, many HMs in rural areas did not conduct the training. As per the norm, if the funds are lying in the school without use at the end of the academic year, the funds should be sent to the department again. Rather, many HMs did not send the fund to the department. So, Chief Educational Officers (CEOs) need to check if the funds are being used for the training in the beginning of the next academic year," a PET, who has not been named, said, as reported by ENS.

The state General Secretary of Tamil Nadu Physical Education Teacher and Director Association, V Periyadurai, said, "Implementation of the martial arts is for government schools. Funds are allocated every December and training is conducted from February to April in the next academic year. In the final moment, HMs are forced to hire trainers from the locality, who provide poor training to students. So, CEOs should monitor this to avoid such issues (sic)," as reported by TNIE.

The state's Chief Educational Officer N Geetha said that they would look into the issue. The martial arts training programme was introduced to increase self-confidence among the girl students, so that they could safeguard themselves in emergency situations.