Even as police personnel across the country continue to work in the frontline in the battle against COVID-19, police officials of Vithura police station in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram district are taking time off to take classes for students at a tribal hamlet inside the forest.

According to a report by The News Minute, the officers from the Vithura police station regularly walk through and scale hills, to reach the tribal settlement and teach the children.

The Janmaithri police station in Vithura was turned into a child-friendly station and was inaugurated by Loknath Behara, Kerala Director General of Police (DGP), a month ago. The station had facilities for online classes for students who required them, mainly targeting students from the Kallooppara tribal hamlet, a few kilometres away from the station.

However, when the Vithura Sub-Inspector SL Sudheesh visited the settlement, the families had expressed concerns in the difficulty in sending children to the station to attend classes. The students had a difficult time reaching the station daily as they had to walk through the forest for over 6 kilometres. A steep hill, the path does not have a motorable road. There were nearly nine students from 19 families in the Kallupara tribal settlement.

The Sub-Inspector informed the concerns to the higher officials and sought help from tribal activist Dhanya Raman and Additional Director General of Police Manoj Abraham. With their help, the police department then sponsored a study centre at the hamlet itself.

The police arranged equipment required for the classes such as a projector, television, tablets, chairs and boards with the help of student police cadets (SPC) and the teachers of Vithura government higher secondary school. Meanwhile, DGP Loknath Behera contributed some equipment, including an electronic tablet to one of the students.

Meanwhile, in a limited time, the locals built a 300 square feet classroom with reeds and bamboo and the police arranged the study centre. Apart from arranging the infrastructure, a few officers from the station, along with a few teachers of HSS, regularly take classes for the children.

‘Even we enjoy being with the children and they enjoy spending time with us,’ Vithura Station House Officer S Sreejith told the media.

Also Read: Kerala Begins E-Learning In Tribal Dialects For Students In Wayanad