While Wednesday was an informative excursion for a group of students from government-run and private schools, Saturday was a test of talent for them — both, courtesy, the Chennai city police and NGO Tulir.
In commemoration of World Day for Prevention of Child Abuse that fell on November 19, the city police, along with Tulir – Centre for the Prevention and Healing of Child Sexual Abuse, organised a visit to police stations for the schoolchildren and also conducted competitions.
On Wednesday morning, the students visited police stations near their schools as part of the ‘police are friends of students’ project.
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“They had a unique experience learning about the functioning of the police and witnessing the assembly of ammunition at stations. It was a key exercise for children to help them understand that police are their friends,” said Vidya Reddy of Tulir who launched the initiative in 2009. Forty students handpicked from the police station visit assembled at the old commissionerate on Pantheon Road, Egmore, on Saturday. Armed with knowledge gained from the visit and interaction with police personnel, the students battled it out in a quiz competition with questions from subjects including child rights and civic and police-related issues.
The day also witnessed an oratorical competition for students, both in English and Tamil, on the topics ‘police my friend’ and ‘my visit to a police station.’
R.S. Nallasivam, additional commissioner of police, Central crime branch, presided over the event and gave away prizes to the students who excelled in the competitions.
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The only complaint the students had was that unlike the past couple of years, they were denied the much-awaited visits to celebrated squads like the canine unit, bomb squad and the historical mounted unit of the city police.