Mukesh Ranjan By

RANCHI: In Jharkhand’s Simdega, district police chief Sanjeev Kumar and his personnel are going beyond the primary role of law and order maintenance to help school dropouts complete their basic education.



Under the ‘Police Uncle Tutorial’ initiative, Kumar is also seeking to prevent vulnerable children fall in the hands of Maoists and child traffickers, who are also a major problem in this Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected district in the state.

Sixteen centres have been set up across the district with at least 50 students at each centre wherein teachers from government schools, retired personnel and those willing to contribute for the society are teaching the kids. Classes are run in schools itself, which does not require any extra expense. Activities in each centre are monitored by a police officer, who is selected for the purpose.

“We are providing free coaching classes for children or for those want to appear for Class 10 examinations. We guide them in their studies every day for two hours to remove the fear of exams from their minds. Due to lack of resources and proper guidance, there are several villages which do not even have a single matriculate student,” says Kumar. More than 800 students are getting guidance from experts to compete in this fast-changing society, he adds.

“Simdega district being susceptible to Maoist activities and human trafficking, it (the initiative) will also prevent youths from getting trapped by the Maoists or child traffickers in the long run,” the SP says. Once, the students get minimum education, they become eligible for recruitment in the Army and CRPF, which, Kumar contends, can improve their lives.

“It gives us immense satisfaction for the service we are doing for the society by providing a platform to the poor and backward children who are lagging behind others, who have all the resources to compete,” says centre coordinator Prem Sharma, who is a teacher at a local government school in Simdega.



The students are putting in 100 per cent to get through their matriculation examinations at their first attempt, he adds. “Students, who earlier were not so confident about themselves, now have become more confident due to the positive environment they are getting at this centre.”