PAK is back! The Gender and Development Program will once again hold “PAK! Pukrat, Ato, Kabataan 2! A Self-Defense Training for Out-of-School Youth,” on 13 March 2024 at the UP Tacloban Student Lounge.

The self-defense training aims to equip out-of-school youth, especially adolescent girls and young females, with basic knowledge and skills in arnis and taekwondo that they can use to protect themselves against gender-based violence. In the Philippines, more girls than boys are out of school (in 2017, females constituted 69% of the total number of out-of-school youth) due to factors related to gender and sex roles, such as pregnancy, early marriage, and domestic responsibilities. Out-of-school girls also face the highest risk for sexual and gender-based violence.

The invited arnis instructors are UP Tacloban PE instructors Mr. Reynaldo Flores Jr. and Ms. Jackyline Pobre and the taekwondo instructor is Ms. Kristelle Yvonne Anne M. Melgazo, bronze medalist in the Flyweight Kyorugi Senior Women’s Taekwondo Tournament in the 2023 SCUAA Regional Meet.

Now in its second year, PAK is part of UP Tacloban’s activities for the Women’s Month celebration.

#NationalWomensMonth2024
#WEcanbeEquaALL