'Self-defence for girls': Maha schools put on alert after Badlapur incident

From September 1, schools and colleges in the Mumbai Suburban area and all Industrial Training Institutes across Maharashtra will provide self-defence training students and young women

Amid the ongoing protests over the Badlapur sexual abuse incident, Maharashtra's cabinet minister and guardian minister of Mumbai Suburban District, Mangal Prabhat Lodha, has issued a new set of guidelines to bolster the security of students and women in educational institutions.

On Wednesday (August 22), Lodha said that from September 1, schools and colleges in the Mumbai Suburban area and all Industrial Training Institutes across Maharashtra will provide self-defence training to students and young women.

Measures to protect school students

From kindergarten to postgraduate levels in the Mumbai Suburban area, notice regarding strict compliance for thorough staff verification has been issued.

Lodha also said that barring washroom facilities, the entire school premises have to be covered under CCTV surveillance. Moreover, girls' washrooms have to be monitored by a permanently assigned female staff.

According to the guidelines, only female sanitation workers should be assigned to clean washrooms for underage girls and tenth graders female students.

To ensure safety during transportation of students, female staff members have to be present in buses, taxis, and vans. “Police verification of the sanitation staff working in schools should be conducted..,” the minister said.

Additionally, schools have been instructed to put up posters to raise awareness among the students and list emergency numbers: 1098 and 181 on institutions’ premises. The guidelines also ask to form a separate committee of female parents at the school, with monthly meetings to address issues affecting girls.

Expert opinion on tackling gender violence

While these measures can be effective in tackling gender violence, women advocacy groups argue that the effort is incomplete without a holistic approach to reforms, including teaching boys about consent and sex education.

Experts advocate implementing comprehensive sex education classes as well as imparting lessons on gender equality to normalise a culture of respect and understanding among all genders to address systemic inequality, which is the root cause of gender-based violence.