From being trained to be law-abiding, disciplined students to helping out those in need during the pandemic, the SPCs are active within and outside of school.
Student Police Cadets with IPS officer P Vijayan
The idea popped up about 15 years ago after an interaction between the Kerala police and school students in the city of Kochi. Since it went so well, the police wondered, why not create a project out of it – train a bunch of school students to be law-abiding, disciplined, responsible citizens. It began quietly in two schools each in Ernakulam and Alappuzha in 2008. A couple of years later, at the state youth festival in Kozhikode, it was formally launched – the Student Police Cadet or SPC, now an inseparable part of the police force. “It was on August 2, 2010 at the Tagore Centenary Hall in Kozhikode that the SPC was inaugurated by then Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan. It began in 27 schools across Kerala, both government and government-aided ones. Now, on the occasion of the 11th anniversary, it is being implemented in 803 schools across the state,” says P Vijayan, Inspector General of Coastal Police and state nodal officer for the SPC. The programme began with the idea of raising responsible citizens who not only abide by the law but also care for nature and fellow human beings, and fight social evils. One of the main objectives of the programme is to prevent youth-related crimes. Students of classes 8, 9, 11 and 12 are invited and selected for the programme. From every batch of every school, 44 students each are selected. At present, there are more than 62,000 student police cadets across Kerala, under 1,500 trained teachers and 2,000 police officers. “Two teachers from every school are trained to be Community Police Officers, who then impart training to the students,” Vijayan says. Boys and girls are to be given equal treatment in the programme. Studies by various agencies such as the KPMG, the State Council of Education, Research and Training (SCERT), the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and the state Planning Board, revealed the positive impact that the SPC has had. The KPMG study of 2015 said that cadets, teachers and the police found the programme highly relevant. Proudly, Vijayan talks of other states replicating the model – Gujarat sending a team in 2013, followed by Haryana, Rajasthan and Karnataka. “In 2018, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh wanted to implement it at national level. Even other countries such as Tanzania, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka and Maldives have shown interest,” the police official says. It does not end with nurturing the students, but also taking them out to serve others in need. The SPC has especially been active during the COVID-19 pandemic, busy with distributing masks and sanitisers as well as taking food packets to those in need. “We have our online groups where we drop messages about collecting and distributing masks and sanitisers to people who don’t have access to it,” says Neenu, a Plus 2 student in Thiruvananthapuram, who joined the SPC in classes 8 and 9 as well as 11 and 12. Two years before COVID-19, Neenu and other students of the SPC in her school got together to build a house for a senior student who came from a financially poor background and had only her mother, a person with disability, at home. “It gives you all these opportunities. It helps you build yourself as a person and in planning a career,” says Neenu, whose elder sister was also a cadet. Far away in Mathamangalam of Kannur district is another proud SPC, ninth grader Ankith. He speaks enthusiastically of the news programme ‘Varthajalakam’ begun by ‘Arya teacher for 50 schools in Kannur’, where each school gets one episode to talk about a news-related topic on social media. “There will for instance be a talk on how children are affected in the Israel-Palestine conflict. It can be on history, current affairs or science. The programme did so well that SPCs in other districts are going to replicate it,” says Ankith. ‘Sruthimaduram’ is another project this young cadet is proud of – it involved students reading and recording books in audio format for the blind. During COVID-19 times, SPC Kannur has been involved in giving out food to those living in the streets at least once a day. There have been other services— Jeevadhara Blood Donors Bank where SPCs created a blood bank in hospitals during the pandemic, Kitchen Garden to develop vegetable gardens, ‘TV Challenge’ to distribute televisions and smart phones to children for online classes. Kutti Desk was created to spread information on COVID-19. Most importantly, they began Chiri, to have SPCs talk to children with mental health issues during the pandemic. The Chiri helpline number is 949790200. Since its formal launch in 2010, over one lakh cadets have been involved in the SPC programme. Those who finish school continue service through the State Voluntary Corps or SVC. Last year, the SPC was also launched in colleges. The 11th anniversary will be inaugurated this year by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
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