When Akshay (name changed) stopped going to school, he could have taken to bad habits like most of the youth in Kannagi Nagar, but the 13-year-old boy from Ezhil Nagar is back in school. Thanks to the police.
After finding that several boys were dropping out of school, the Adyar police have come to a conclusion that only education could change the social environment in the crime-prone slum tenement. And so they started the programme of enrolling students in schools.
It has been a complete turn around as until a few months ago a sense of animosity prevailed between the police and the residents of Kannagi Nagar in Thoraipakkam, which houses one of the largest slum tenements in the city.
The slum youth had earned notoriety for criminal activities and for any crimes committed in the vicinity the suspicion usually fell on the rowdy elements in Kannagi Nagar and Ezhil Nagar.
The policemen were treated as ‘enemies’ for being harsh. There have been a few incidents of violence in the past: vehicles inside the police station were torched after a suspected case of custodial death.
Somewhere there was a change of heart, on both sides. Now, police officers are treated in a ‘friendly’ manner by the residents and the police also treat the residents with ‘respect.’
“We realised that ruling with iron fists will only add to the growing antagonism between the police and residents,” says P. Sundaravadivel, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Adyar District.
A plan was worked out to create a social change in the locality and a thorough enumeration of the residents was undertaken. “In the enumeration, we found hundreds of children had discontinued studies and that if no steps were taken these young children were likely to get into criminal activities,” he noted.
Task group formed
A task group of 13 police personnel was set up and entrusted with the job of enrolling the dropouts in schools. “More than 420 children have been re-admitted in the three government schools,” says Thamizh, one of the volunteers of the Police Boys Club in Kannagi Nagar.
Now that the children are back in school, the police plan to distribute school bags and other educational kits with assistance from an educational institution. They are also looking for sponsors to provide tuition to these children. A WhatsApp group called Kannagi Nagar Development Group created by the police is buzzing all the time these days.
J. Iyappan, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Thoraipakkam, said a self-help group for women is next in the plan and training on tailoring and also distributing sewing machines free of cost will be taken up.
The Adyar District Police plan to replicate this social formula in the slum tenements in Semmanchery and Kallukuttai in the coming years.
