Lucknow, Dec 12 (IANS): Under the fourth phase of Mission Shakti, the Yogi Adityanath government will impart self-defence training in the upper primary and composite schools.

This is being done to ensure safety and well-being of girls and their physical and mental self-dependency.

According to a government spokesman, due to the policy of 'zero tolerance' against crime and criminals in the last five-and-a-half years, there has been a significant decline in crimes against women in the state.

"To ensure their proper security, the girl students will be trained under the 'Rani Laxmi Bai' self-defence training programme," the spokesman said.

Director general, school education, Vijay Kiran Anand has issued detailed guidelines for successfully conducting the self-defence programme.

An action plan for the training of the girls has been prepared. This training will compulsorily start in December 2022 and will be conducted till February 2023.

Health and physical education instructors and Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBV) sports teachers will provide training to all the girls studying in the school during the prescribed period for physical education, sports, arts and music.

The training will be conducted under the supervision of the headmaster of the school. Apart from this, a teacher of the schools will also be included during the training, who will be continuously present during the training period of the girls.

During the warm-up activities in the first week of the programme, a mock drill will be conducted with the children making them aware of the safety measures, laws and helpline numbers etc.

For easy reference, a booklet developed by the Women and Child Protection Organisation Headquarters, 1090 Lucknow, based on important laws regarding crimes against women and children, will also be read and discussed in detail with the children.

At present, a total of 10,158 health and physical education instructors and 10,904 instructors and teachers are working in 746 KGBVs in the upper primary schools, and composite schools under Samagra Shiksha.