Two mobile vans flagged off to educate street children

Noida: Gautam Budh Nagar police flagged off two mobile vans on Sunday on the occasion of Children’s Day with the aim of educating street children who have not been put in schools or have dropped out

Noida: Gautam Budh Nagar police flagged off two mobile vans on Sunday on the occasion of Children’s Day with the aim of educating street children who have not been put in schools or have dropped out.

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The vans, under Nanhe Parinde initiative, are equipped with books, LCD screens, sound systems, CCTV cameras and sanitization infrastructure among other facilities. The initiative, supported by HCL Foundation and Chetna NGO, was originally launched on January 24 this year.

Through this initiative, children are first introduced to the concept of schools and then put into mainstream education. As part of the initiative, two such vans were already operational in the district.

Police said with the help of this initiative,108 out-of-school children have been brought into the fold of education system, of whom 69 have been enrolled in local schools and 39 are taking online lessons.

“These children have improved their life by learning new life skills such as child rights, safe and unsafe touch, leadership and planning, decision making, and self awareness,” said a statement by Noida police.

Alok Singh, commissioner of police, Gautam Budh Nagar, said this initiative has resulted in creating a confident and favourable environment for the disadvantaged children. “This effort will further protect the children from getting into conflict with law and will empower them to follow their dreams and contribute to the nation building. These children are the future of our country and together, we need to nurture and support their hidden talent from an early age to help them become responsible citizens,” he said.

Nidhi Pundir, director of HCL Foundation, said with this initiative, they have been able to bring a positive transformation in the lives of many children.“The success of the programmes in the first phase propelled us to expand the initiative by adding two new mobile education and protection vans,” she said.

Sanjay Gupta, director of Chetna NGO said, “We have designed these vans keeping in mind all the needs of street children. These vans are also equipped with the necessary infrastructure required to maintain Covid appropriate behaviour, security cameras, seats, nutrition packets, and stationery to provide quality education to children,” he said. The vans will visit different areas and connect with 50-60 students every day.