Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan stated on Friday that Student Police Cadets (SPC) should be employed effectively in anti-drug campaigns in schools. Vijayan gave the direction during a meeting to assess the SPC plan, according to a statement issued by his office.
During the meeting, the CM said that an action plan should be developed to strengthen the SPCs and services of police and excise officials should be made available as school-level trainers against drug use, according to the statement.
He said that experts from the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), the Institute of Management in Government (IMG), and the Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA), among others, should be involved in the development of the action plan, PTI reported.
The CM further directed that while selecting children for the SPC scheme, academic excellence should not be the only criteria and interested students should be considered based on their overall merit, the statement said.
Priority in the scheme should be given to schools in coastal and backward areas, he said.
Besides these, he issued a slew of other directions, including holding state, district and school-level meetings regularly to assess the progress of the SPC scheme implementation.
He also directed that revision of the SPC outdoor manual be completed in a timely manner and an appropriate law be formulated to strengthen and streamline certain aspects of the scheme and make it more efficient, the statement said.
The CM also tasked the Additional Chief Secretary of the Home Department and the Principal Secretary of the General Education Department to make available services of the teachers and police officers required for training in schools implementing the scheme.
Vijayan also said that the SPC scheme, a high school-based initiative by Kerala Police which started in 2010 and is currently implemented in 1,049 schools in the state, should be extended to all public schools by using the welfare funds from public sector undertakings, banks and corporate institutions, among others.