Coimbatore police to sensitise students to ills of substance abuse

COIMBATORE:  Following the success of Project Pallikkoodam, an initiative where school students are given awareness and encouraged to lodge complaints about physical and psychological abuse, Coimbatore District (Rural) police wukk launch the second phase of the project soon with focus on drug abuse.
Under Project Pallikkoodam,  police personnel interact with students to make them aware of sexual offences and the legal remedies available to them.

Trained police personnel address students by segregating them into age categories. During the sessions, they explain good and bad touch, adult behaviour, POCSO Act, cyber space safety, etc.
The programme which started on June 31, 2022, has so far (April 25, 2023) covered 2,07,686 students, including 80352 students from elementary schools and 6366 teachers across 1280 schools.

As many as ten POCSO cases have been registered and ten suspects were arrested based on complaints by students who participated in the awareness sessions.  Apart from this, 32 victims were identified and guided towards their mental and physical wellness and over 100 minor issues like minor elopement, drug addictions, and domestic violence were also directly addressed by the police in the last ten months, according to the police.

“We achieved 90% reach among students in rural districts. The remaining students will be covered in the next educational year. We have planned to launch the second phase with fucus on drug abuse,” said Police Superintendent V Badrinarayanan.

He said, “Use of narcotic substances is rising among students and before it becomes a threat, we have to sensitise them. That is why we are planning to make students aware of drugs, using our powerful tool Project Pallikkoodam. We hope that making them aware of drugs in their schooling, will help and protect them in future,” Badrinarayanan added.