This year we celebrated International Women’s Day (8th March, 2016)by strengthening and empowering the girl students of the college by providing them a self- defence & self protection training techniques. This workshop was initiated by the Centre for Women and Gender Studies in collaboration with the Students’ Council of Canara College, Mangaluru for the benefit of girl students of the college. The main agenda was to inculcate in the girls, physical and mental confidence and to help themselves in times of danger.
In the 75-minutes long presentation, the trainer Mr. Karthik S. Kateel along with his mother Shobhalatha , demonstrated five techniques on how women can hit back when attacked by a stranger or a group of people. “The eyes, nose and neck are sensitive parts of the human body. Those who have attended my sessions can easily pick up techniques on how to hit back and get a dangerous situation under their control. My techniques are simple and useful for women of all age groups” he said. “Normally, karate or taekwondo is promoted for girls for self-defence. But aged women would find it difficult to master these arts. My techniques do not include either kicks or blocks. All one needs is the presence of mind and ability to identify the weak points in the attacker so that they can easily escape unhurt,” he said.
Around 600 girl students of the college attended Mr. Kateel’s programme. His mother Shobhalatha often plays a role in the demonstrations. The 24-year old Kateel has completed his B.Sc., and is presently pursuing a Master’s degree in English literature.When a series of incidents of sexual harassment of women were reported a year and a half ago, Mr. Kateel, who by then had secured black-belt in Karate, thought of conducting a self-defence demonstration for women. Interestingly, his mother was his first student. Karthik S. Kateel and his mother Shobhalatha have been visiting college after college teaching girls’ self-defence. So far the duo has covered 290 institutions in the State and trained more than 75,000 girls in self-defence techniques.
College Principal Dr.K.V.Malini presided over the function. Student welfare officer Prof.I.N.Noronha welcomed the gathering. Convener of Centre for Women & Gender Studies, Prof. Seema Prabhu S. rendered vote of thanks. The programme was compeered by the final year student Namratha Pa
Report by :Prof. Seema Prabhu S.
