PRAYAGRAJ: The Covid pandemic has immensely affected the education of underprivileged children during both the first and second waves. Children in slums, and backward areas, who could not even think of having access to smartphones and laptops to attend online classes, have now found a reason to smile.
Cops posted at the office of the Inspector General of Police (IG Prayagraj range office) have come up with a noble plan to support and educate the underprivileged and needy children in helping them understand subjects like geography, political science, maths, computer, English etc.
On Tuesday, Inspector General of police(Prayagraj range) K P Singh donned the hat of a teacher for the underprivileged children of the slum and taught geography and political science for the classes of seventh and eighth students. Interestingly, over 50 children attended the class for around an hour.
IG told TOI that he would be teaching other subjects to unprivileged children every Tuesday evening. The initiative was taken by a cop named Ashish Mishra, who is a constable with the Prayagraj range office and had started teaching underprivileged children a few weeks back. Gradually, other policemen of different posts and ranks too joined him and decided to teach the children various subjects.
Two years back, these classes were started and run by one Abhishek Shukla under the Suruwat organisation, who first started taking classes of privileged children at Tiranga Park, parade ground. When he came in contact with police officials, the senior police officials too expressed their willingness and constable Ashish Mishra was the first to take classes.
Mishra, who had also done B.Ed., decided to take classes physically as the students were not able to afford smartphones or laptops to attend online classes. Most of the students are children of labourers living in the area nearby. The cop further informed that the classes are being conducted by following all the Covid-19 guidelines and social distancing rules.
IG, however, appreciated the efforts of policemen doing the kind act and said there are other cops too on the list who extended their helping hand to these children and deserve appreciation for their contribution towards society.
