In a move to sensitise teachers and police officers on issues like gender, child rights and social sensitisation, the UT Administration has begun a five-day special training session.
The training is aimed at making the teachers and police officers of Chandigarh to understand the psychology of the children/women, especially girl child so that they can solve the problems of children/women in a more sensitive manner. The five-day training programme started on December 2 and saw participation of teachers and police officers in large numbers.
A senior official of the Social Welfare Department said that that main focus of the training programme is to spread awareness on gender, child rights and social issues. Gender stereotyping and gender roles were also emphasised upon, how it is difficult for a parent to encourage their child to step out of the social mould. Gender roles and how these are incorporated in our lives from the very beginning were discussed.
The training is kept interactive encouraging the participants to speak up and share their views and experiences. The trainings were conducted with the aim of dismissing social myths and broadening the understanding of the participants. “Examples of school textbooks which always show a mother in the kitchen while the father is with a briefcase, a shopkeeper inquiring about the recipient of the gift before showing options were discussed. These were used to bring to light that gender stereotyping has become so deep-rooted that we do not even realise it,” said the official.