"Launched jointly by Rajasthan's Education and Police departments under the National Police Mission, the SPC programme has been started from July 4 in 1,000 schools (government-run and Central schools) in the current academic session. Rajasthan has the highest number of schools running the programme," said Additional Director General of Police K. Narasimha Rao.
During the two-year programme, 22 students of classes 8 and 9 from each school will be trained in food safety, traffic awareness, disaster management, tolerance, team spirit, fight against corruption and safety of women and children among others. The training will be imparted at three levels indoor classes, outdoor activities and visiting relevant places and offices.
Thus the programme will train 22,000 youngsters annually and over 1 lakh youngsters over five years to render their services for relief operations and traffic regulation among other such tasks.
"The SPC programme was started in Kerala 12 years ago by P. Vijayan, an IPS officer from Kerala, and lakhs of students have been trained under it. In fact, during last year's floods, many students played an active role in disaster management. Now, we want similar results in Rajasthan where kids can help the police with proper training," said Narasimha Rao.
"In Kerala, Gujarat and Haryana, the SPC trainees have a uniform, which is a big attraction and incentive for them. They develop respect for government officials once they wear a uniform. However, in Rajasthan, we are still awaiting approval for a uniform," he added.
He added that Kerala has a budget of Rs 2.65 lakh per school per annum, which includes expenses for refreshments, camps and the annual function arrangements. Gujarat gets somewhere around Rs 1 lakh on an average for these expenses, which vary from school to school.
"However, Rajasthan has been allotted Rs 50,000 per school per annum with some conditions. We are asking for a higher budget, which should either be considered or else the break-up given to us under different expense heads should be waived," he said.
( With inputs from IANS )