NEW DELHI: A countrywide initiative called Student Police Cadet (SPC) programme, which aims to build a bridge between the police and young students by educating them in crime prevention and ethics through classes at school and outside, will be launched on Saturday by home minister Rajnath Singh .

The programme, which will not have any prescribed textbook or require an exam but only involve one class in a month, will seek to teach the pupils about crime prevention and control, apart from inculcating in them values and ethics. While crime control will cover community policing, road safety, fight against social evils, the safety of women and children, anti-corruption measures and disaster management, the values and ethics it seeks to impart include respect for elders, empathy and sympathy, tolerance, patience, team spirit and discipline.

The home ministry-supported programme, for which Rs 67 crore has been released to the states, shall focus on students of Class VIII and IX and special care has been taken to not to burden the students with the extra workload.

An amount of Rs 50,000 shall be earmarked for each school to be spent on educational aids, training and contingency. The programme shall be implemented at first in government schools across both urban and rural areas, said a home ministry release.

There shall be greater emphasis on field demonstrations and hands-on learning of the functioning of police through visits to women police stations, child protection homes including NGOs, traffic police and fire brigade stations, said a home ministry release.

The student cadet programme will be launched nationally by the home minister from Tau Devi Lal Stadium , Gurgaon, in the presence of Human Resources Development Minister Prakash Javadekar and Chief Minister of Haryana Manohar Lal Khattar, besides others.

A handbook has been prepared by the Bureau of Police Research and Development for imparting instructions with the support of NCERT.

The programme will be steered by a state-level committee to be headed by the state principal secretary, home; principal secretary, education; and DGP as members.

There shall be a similar committee at the district level headed by the district magistrate with district inspector of schools and superintendent of police as members.

