Thiruvananthapuram: The new training rules of Bharat Scouts and Guides, which is a nationwide 'voluntary, non-political educational movement for young people', has upset school authorities as well as teachers and trainers. Many states, including Kerala and Karnataka, have approached its national headquarters asking to repeal a circular insisting on appointing male instructors to train boy scouts.
The circular also states that if the schools with lady scout masters do not find male trainers too, their unit registration would be lost. The latest instruction contradicts the Bharat Scouts and Guides’ aim to develop ideas of gender equality among students.
Rover and Ranger
The scout unit of students above 15 years would now be called the ‘Rover’ and the guides unit would be called the ‘Ranger’ in order to give them special training and a psychological approach in training.
This academic year, only 12 rover scouts and ranger guides each would be admitted to the programme. Next year, 12 more candidates should be admitted to form a full unit of 24 members. They would be trained based on a unique syllabus for Rover/Ranger.
These changes would be implemented from this year onwards. Earlier, it was decided to establish the Rover–Ranger units at college level too.