Home Minister Rajnath Singh yesterday launched the ‘Student Police Cadet’ (SPC) programme in Gurugram, under which high school students across the country will be taught to become much more responsible citizens.
Speaking at the formal launch at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium here, Singh said that the SPC programme, for students of classes 8 and 9, will be implemented across the country with a vision for citizens to respect and follow laws willingly, practice responsible behaviour towards others, demonstrate empathy for the weaker sections of society, and participate in tackling community issues.
The central government has sanctioned Rs670mn to states for the programme’s implementation and each school would get Rs50,000 for educational aids, training and contingency for the programme.
Singh said the venture aims to unlock the potential of India’s youth and make them capable of becoming social leaders with a global vision guided by humanitarian values. India has the world’s largest population of youth and there is a paradigm shift in the policing function from enforcement to facilitation of law, he said.
Referring to the ill-effects of rapid modernisation and incidents aired on news, TV and social media on a daily basis, the minister said they put a negative impact on the entire society and there was a need to give moral character education at both home and school.
“Though it is a tough task and would take a long time, we have to achieve this... Keeping this in view, SPC is being launched at the national level to help in building a bridge between the police and the larger community through school students by inculcating values and ethics in them,” he added.
Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar, who was also present, said the SPC programme works on education-values-law linkage, to enable the school community to create a safe school environment.
It will also facilitate development of good health, physical and mental fitness, self-control and discipline in youth while enabling them to work with police, he said, adding teachers will be trained by police to act as Community Police Officers (CPO) and Additional CPOs.
Noting that students of classes 8 and 9 form nearly 40mn of the 260mn students across the country, Javadekar said the programme, including classes, physical training, field visits, SPC camps and practical projects, will be first introduced in government schools and later extended to private educational institutes.
Students will be studying about law and constitution, communication skills, disaster management, health and hygiene and about setting goal, he said.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh speaks during the launch of Student Police Cadet (SPC) programme in Gurugram yesterday.
