State women and child welfare minister Varsha Gaikwad on Tuesday said that karate schools would be started in each and every district and zilla parishad of Maharashtra after the implementation of the Maharashtra State Women’s policy.
The minister was discussing the proposed plans under the new policy. “It will pave way for stronger women,” she said. Elaborating on the draft policy, the minister said that while the thrust of the policy was on empowering women with more rights, it also aimed at filling up areas of education for the girl child that need improvement.
Apart from basic education, the policy also aimed at providing vocational education and training to women to become self-sufficient and independent. “NGOs entrusted with providing education to girls will be expected to arrange for providing vocational training to the women through the vocational training institutes recognised by Directorate General of Employment and Training under the ministry of labour and employment,” said Ms Gaikwad.
She said that the policy has also suggested setting up of academies that will teach women and girls self-defence techniques to fight against physical abuse. “This could see the setting up of karate institutes, exclusively for women, in each district and zilla parishad,” Ms Gaikwad said. Ms Gaikwad said that the draft policy has also recommended setting up of separate toilets in schools for girl students so that there is no scope for molestation or abuse. “All public schools and places will have to have separate toilets for women within three years,” said Ms Gaikwad.
Further, the policy has also made reservation for women in government- funded agriculture related training with nearly 50 per cent of seats to be reserved for women. Special efforts to increase female literacy have been undertaken to ensure easy access and availability of learning.