Kerala Police is celebrating the success of its Hope initiative as it helped rescue 365 of the 4.19 lakh students who passed Kerala SSLC exams this year, from the clutches of unlawful and rogue activities.
Hope — Helping Others Promote Education — is a special project of the state police, initiated in 2017, to help school dropouts or students who land in police custody due to unlawful acts. It began after an analysis of the background of juveniles in police custody found that social conditions were the main reason why students take wrong turns.
The achievement of this project assumes significance as Kerala witnessed a campaign to identify the reasons why 0.53 per cent of the students failed the SSLC examination despite the much liberal conduct and valuation due to the Covid-19 situations. Many teachers point out that most students who failed were in the throes of social issues or learning disabilities.
Under the project, vulnerable students are identified with the help of community policing officials working at the grass root levels, NGOs and school authorities. They then receive counselling and training from experts. It was observed that some of these students were even suffering from tendencies to end their life.
General of Police P Vijayan, who is also the nodal officer of Hope, said that apart from helping the students to clear SSLC, students also get vocational training to lead a normal life. The success of the project was a motivation to strengthen it further and bring more vulnerable children back to the mainstream.
Retired teachers, volunteers and even police officials with teaching experience take on these students. During the last academic year, special audio-visual materials were also provided to the students during the lockdown. Classes are conducted at designated learning centres, some of which are even at police stations.
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