Little children begging for money or selling knick knacks is a common sight on the roads, especially in traffic junctions. They can be seen also in metro-stations and marketplaces, selling roses or begging for food or money. The situation is the same in almost every town and city, and Noida is no exception. However, the police department in this Uttar Pradesh city decided to do something about it. Realising that real growth and empowerment happen only through education, Noida Police decided to educate these street children for a better future. And the ‘Nanhe Parindey’ initiative was launched.
Indian Masterminds talked to the nodal officer of the initiative, Mr. Rajneesh Verma, ACP, Noida, about the concept and how they are going about it to bring changes in the lives of the street kids.
COMMISSIONER’S MISSION
According to a survey, 50-60 thousand children are living in vulnerable conditions in Noida, and out of them, 3-4 thousand are forced to earn for their living or beg at public places. Most of these children are on their own, so not only are they deprived of their fundamental rights, but they also face several types of exploitation.
To save them from such situations and bring them towards a better life by providing education and nutrition, the Commissioner of Police, Noida, Mr. Alok Singh conceptualized ‘Nanhe Parindey’.
“The idea is to bring education at the doorsteps of street-connected children. We have collaborated with HCL foundation and NGO Chetna to make this work. HCL Foundation is providing all technical and financial support to establish educational vehicles and Chetna is in charge of giving education to children and mainstream them through their trained team members. Besides mobilizing the children, they also talk to the parents so that the children attend classes regularly,” ACP Rajneesh Verma told Indian Masterminds.
Police personnel identify the children, and they also contact the parents through them. Most of these children are from nearby slum areas. Till now, four vehicles are providing education to the underprivileged children at 16 different locations. They are – Sector 18, Sector, 37, Sector 52, Sector 62, Sector 126, Sector 70, Harola and Botanical Garden, Sector 76, Sector 78, Metro Station Sector 101, Metro Station Sector 81, Bhagat Market, Cherry County, Char Murti and Habibpur.
EMPOWERING WOMEN TOO
Each educational van covers four locations every day and classes are taken for around 3 hours at various times of the day. The unique thing about this initiative is that all vehicles have women drivers, and all the teachers are female, too. The location where the vehicles halt is near the local police outpost and all kinds of security related concern is managed by the police. One constable is always posted at the place when the class is in session. This gives confidence to the parents and the children as well.
Children at the education point are engaged in Alternative Education (Bridge Education), After-School Support Classes (Remedial Education), and Life-Skill Workshop. Digital screen and E-TLM in teaching-learning process are also part of the programme.
The nutritional needs of the children are also taken care of. Mr. Verma said, “First we started by giving them dry food after the class but now we are providing them cooked meal also. We started off with not more than 20 children but now 1664 out-of-school and dropout children are connected to this initiative. Out of them, 100 have been enrolled for formal education in government and private schools.”
On this Republic Day, the Nanhey Parinde vehicles will also join the police parade of Noida Police and the children will give a performance.
NANHE PARINDEY VEHICLE
The education vans are fully equipped with Covid-protocol provisions like hand washing and sanitization facilities. The vans also have all the necessary items for children’s education like educational material, AV system, etc. Arrangement for digital education will be installed soon. Sports training to select children, interface of the children from time to time with the officers of the police and other departments will also be available. Also, the fifth vehicle will also join this mission shortly.
POLICE ROLE
Mr. Rajneesh Verma was appointed as the nodal officer for day-to-day support. Along with him, police personnel are also appointed to assist and monitor each van, arrange a safe place to park the van after education, to give permission to operate and park in the city and so on. Police personnel are also in-charge for arranging one room for setting up the central monitoring unit of the van, manage law and order on education points through local chowki in-charge, and monitoring and providing guidance to children to make them aware about social issues through proper counseling.
