KOCHI: Even as the Kerala Police find themselves on the back foot following news about the torture they mete out to persons in custody, the success of a social intervention project proves how caring the department can be.
The initiative titled ‘Hope’ has changed the lives of 105 school dropouts as free counselling, coaching and guidance by the police helped them resume studies and clear the SSLC examination in 2018 and 2019. Buoyed by its success, the department has decided to expand the project by targeting at least 100 school dropouts in each district. State police chief Loknath Behera has decided to allot additional fund for it.
“We had launched the project after analysing the background of 8,000 people who got into anti-social activities. We found a majority of them had taken to the path after dropping out of school, mostly following their failure in the SSLC examination,” said Inspector-General P Vijayan, the project’s nodal officer.
“The outcome in 2018 and 2019 reveals that many children can become productive with our support,” said Vijayan.
While the project was implemented on a trial basis in Ernakulam, Alappuzha and Kottayam in 2018, it was run in Kozhikode and Alappuzha in 2019. Of the 90 school dropouts enrolled, 64 passed the SSLC exam in 2018. Similarly, 41 of 44 cleared it in 2019.
“We don’t stop our support after the students clear SSLC exam. We identify various skill development programmes for them to ensure that they become employable. Support is extended to even those who want to pursue higher studies,” added Vijayan.