KATHMANDU, Oct 7: The accelerating number of crime rates in the country is showing no hints of abating. To make it worse, the rape cases, according to the recent police edit, have reached an average of 120 every month. This clearly demands the change in the situation through education and protection that teaches women to guard themselves against horrendous cases. However, self-defense training is equally important for both men and women. 

Looking at the status quo, a huge number of women are assaulted and victimized suggesting them to learn a thing or two about such techniques. In the recent times, a lot of buzz regarding the self-defense training have been heard, which have been felt extremely necessary. “On the occasion of International non-violence day, a self-defense training ‘Aatma Rakshya’ was organized by ‘Girls Kick’ at National Youth Council, Sano Thimi, Bhaktapur, where almost 100 girls came together to learn about the different techniques and procedures. With a central purpose of instilling a spirit of self-confidence and self-respect among the young girls, the campaign of self-defense training has been started,” shared Kusum KC, program manager at Girls kick. 

“For some reason, I used to get afraid to walk in the night time, but after the self-defense training, I have the confidence. It has helped me not only to break the stereotype of being weak but also to take a stand and save myself in cases of emergencies,” shared Saru Khadka, who recently completed five-day self-defense training. Likewise, Dipisha Bhujel, another attendant of training said, “I feel I am physically and mentally capable of defending myself. As I have attended the techniques and strategies to fight back for three days, it is my responsibility to teach the basic steps to my friends and protest against the increasing rape cases in the country.”

Niraj Neupane, founder and chairperson of Girls kick, informed, “We are putting forward the campaign with an aim to reach all districts.” He further added, “The training is conducted under three modules namely ‘Know the Girl’, ‘Self Defense Practice’, and ‘Know the Legal’.” 

Awareness session, also known as ‘Know the Girl’ is about knowing and understanding the physical and mental potentiality of themselves. It is an encouragement session to motivate the girls to take part in the physical training. 

Likewise, empowerment session or self-defense practice is done in accordance with the flexibility and interest of the participants. This is the phase where the participants learn about the tools and techniques to defend themselves in the case of emergencies. 

At last, the session of idea-sharing on national and international laws concerning women violence and sexual assaults is conducted under ‘Know the Legal’. These training, mostly of five days and fifteen days, not only provide an aid to protect themselves but help them emerge as a master-trainer enabling them to share the techniques with the community as well.

“In the previous training sessions, I used to see the maximum participation of girls. But recently, the number of boys has also increased. The variety of techniques such as punching, palm, and knee attacking, safe-escaping is taught in all the training sessions. We are equipping the participants with 45 different techniques of martial arts. It’s high time everyone learned to kick when needed,” shared martial arts trainer Pawan Budhathoki, who has been giving self-defense classes for a while now. 

Similarly, Priyanka Baral, a master trainer, told, “I had attended an intense training of 15 days specializing in the procedures and techniques of self-defense. I have personally felt that during the physical training, it is equally vital to hold a motivating session as well in order to make them understand the essence of such training. Recently, we have witnessed that the engagement of girls in training session has increased with the introduction of motivation and brain warm-up exercises.”