Classroom Banking to be introduced in 10 schools

KOZHIKODE: The city police, in association with school teachers and management, are planning to introduce class room banking system in 10 select schools including Government Ganpath Vocational Higher Secondary School, Feroke, Government Vocational Higher Secondary School Meenchanda, Government Ganpath Higher Secondary School Kallayi, Tali Zamorins Higher Secondary School, Government Model HSS and BEM Girls HSS. Large sums of money brought to school by  students will be confiscated and deposited in banks after opening accounts in their name. The project will be implemented by forming an alliance with banks and class teachers will be entrusted with class room banking. This new project is expected to prevent children from possessing huge sums. The project also aims to promote the habit of saving among school children, said the officials.  The proposal came in the core committee meeting and the mode of implementation will be finalised after another core committee meeting, said C P Ashokan, ASI Juvenile Wing. The proposal points out that if few students bring large sums of money to the classroom it would create inconvenience to their friends, apart from creating deviant behaviour in them, he added.The ORC (Our Responsibility to Children) groups are also planning to organise a welcome programme for students on the day of school reopening. A group of four or five ORC members will reach the selected schools on June 1 and distribute sweets with a list of ‘dos’, said Ashokan. “We don’t want to direct the students on what is not to be done. Instead we will tell them what is to be done in the school,” he added. Besides, the Police Department under the ORC project is also planning various programmes for diverting the negative energy of the students to positive actions. Those groups, which have negative names such as ‘devils’ and ‘bad boys’ will be deployed in creative activities including gardening and disciplinary cells to transform them to good human beings.  All these projects will be launched in the next academic year, said the officials in charge of ORC. School protection committees are also being formed in 10 selected schools in the city limit to protect the schools from anti-social elements. A group of natives, teachers, auto-taxi drivers and shop owners will be part of the protection committee, said the officials