The Student Police Cadet (SPC) programme, which has been successfully implemented in six schools in the last academic year, will be extended to six more schools in the district soon.
R.Dathan, the district nodal officer for implementing SPC, said that the schools selected are St.Joseph’s HSS, Karimannur; S.N.H.S.S, Kanjikuzhy; Government H.S.S., Panickankudy; St.Mary’s H.S.S., Marykulam; Government H.S.S., Rajakkad; and S.N.V.H.S.S., N.R.City. He said that two more schools have also been considered for the implementation of the programme to be extended at a later stage.
The aim of the programme is to inculcate the spirit of social commitment and a helping mentality at a tender age to develop them as a responsible citizens.
The parents are highly supportive of the programme and there were demands from various schools to implement the programme.
The follow-up analysis showed that SPC was successful in all the schools where it was implemented and the teachers selected for training the students have helped a lot in making it a success.
In addition to creating social responsibility, it helps in developing a positive approach among the students. Though the main duty of the SPC is to support the police in controlling traffic, cadets helped in creating awareness on traffic rules among the drivers at various places in the district, he said.
Public appreciation
In Kumily, the SPC had cleaned the road from Thekkady Junction to the boat-landing station and the plastic and other non-biodegradable materials discarded by tourists were collected and removed to the waste recycling plant. It received so much public appreciation that the local people and tourists joined them and it was a drive in the right direction to make Kumily almost free from plastic.
Mr Dathan said that there is a proposal to use the services of the SPC in river protection in cooperation with various departments.
He said that 22 boys and an equal number of girls are selected from each school for training under the SPC scheme for two years. Training is given in such a way as to inculcate a spirit of self-discipline and mould a future generation with a commitment to society.
The decision to extend the SPC scheme to more schools was taken at a meeting held at the collectorate, attended by District Collector T.Bhaskaran and Superintendent of Police George Varghese, Mr. Dathan said.
