SRIKAKULAM: After the Disha incident occurred in Hyderabad, a social worker, who has been running Nirbhaya forum since 2012, launched the brave girl movement in December last in Srikakulam district.
Geeta Sreekanth Foundation chairperson Y Geeta Sreekanth launched the movement to prepare the girls to face the physical and emotional challenges in the society. Under the brave girl movement, one lakh girl students were trained in self-defence techniques in the district in the last one year.
Similarly, experts in various subjects created awareness about the rights and Acts favouring the women and girls, besides punishment in crimes against women. Organisers are planning to resume self-defence training after Sankranti in the district. “Under the banner of Geeta Sreekanth Foundation, we imparted self-defence training to the girls of various schools and colleges in the district,” said Geeta Sreekanth.
She said they had intensified the self-defence training programmes after the Disha incident occurred in Hyderabad. “We had trained nearly one lakh girl students in self-defence in the district till the educational institutions were shut down due to lockdown. Besides self-defence techniques, we are creating awareness among girls about cybercrimes and Acts.
With the support of police department, legal experts and other service-minded intellectuals, we had covered several topics including cybercrimes and the preventive measures during the awareness programmes,” she explained. The Geeta Sreekanth Foundation also created awareness about health and hygiene to the girls as part of the brave girl movement.
Speaking to TNIE, Srikakulam government girls’ high school headmaster Dr Vagdevi said of the 340 students in the school, more than 200 girls underwent self-defence training programme, conducted by Geeta Sreekanth Foundation in the name of the brave girl movement. She said that she had noticed a remarkable change in the personality of the girls after undergoing self-defence training.
Experts took the awareness classes during the prayer time as part of the movement, she added. “To boost the self-confidence in girls, we trained the girls in self-defence techniques,” said Srikakulam Taekwondo Association president Taekwondo Sreenu. He said that they had trained the students from class 9 to post graduation in the district. “In collaboration with Geeta Sreekanth Foundation, we had conducted the training programmes free of cost as part of the brave girl movement,” Sreenu added.
Brave girl movement
Geetha Srikanth said they are planning to resume self-defence training and awareness programmes for the girls after Sankranti. The aim of the brave girl movement is to strengthen the girls physically and psychologically to face the challenges. Similarly, under Nirbhaya forum, the foundation extended the legal, medical and counselling support to the women and girl victims, she added