Kolkata Police, Airtel and CRY join hands to start Pora Shuno Choltey Thak initiative

“It was extremely difficult for me to keep up with studies as I didn’t have a smartphone of my own and couldn’t follow the lessons, nor could I access work-sheets given by our teachers. Now that I have a smartphone, it will help me to catch up with day to day classes and continue my studies,” said a beaming Papiya (name change to protect identity), a student of class 10 at a school in Behala, staying at Taratala CPT Colony – as she received a brand new handset and data card from Soumen Mitra, the Commissioner of Kolkata Police.

Selina (name changed to protect identity), a girl from the same locality and a student of 12th standard at a local school, echoed Diya, with a twinkle of joy in her eyes. “From now on, our performances at exams won’t have to suffer only because of not being gifted with a handset and data connectivity. From tomorrow, things will change as far as attending online classes and giving exams are concerned,” an evidently confident Selina said.

Tiasha (name changed to protect identity), a girl of 11th standard in a South Kolkata school said, “We have only one smart phone, but I cannot access it, as my Mother used to take the phone to her work. So I could not attain my online classes every day, and missed my activity tasks given at school.” She looks happy today, as having a phone at her disposal will help her attend classes regularly.

Commenting on the initiative, Soumen Mitra IPS, the Commissioner of Kolkata Police said, “This is a small attempt on behalf of KP to ensure that school going children, especially those in their adolescent years, belonging to families that cannot afford the digital access to learning do not fall prey to frustration and resultant susceptibility to crime – both as victims as well as perpetrators.”

“During the pandemic, Kolkata Police has been relentlessly trying to work closely with community people and trying to help them in many different ways. It was in such a time the path-breaking idea of bridging the digital gap for underprivileged children came up from one of our very senior officers, and we didn’t wait to take it up,” he added.

Mitra thanked Airtel and CRY for partnering with them in this initiative, and wished that this could change children’s lives by helping them continue with their education.

Other top rung officials of Kolkata Police present in the ceremony included the Special Commissioner of Kolkata Police Smt. Damayanti Sen; Additional Commissioners TanmoyRoychowdhury and Mr BastavBaidya; Joint Commissioners V. Solomon Neshakumar Sayed WaquarRaja, Mr AkhileshChaturvedi, Sudheer N, Santosh Pandey, Mr D Banerjee and Mr SujayChanda; and Deputy Commissioner of Police(STF) Ms AparajitaRai. 

Underscoring the importance of online education, Siddharth Sharma, CEO – West Bengal & Odisha, Bharti Airtel said, “The scope of e-learning is enormous and provides every students with equal access to various educational opportunities. Airtel is proud to be a part of this unique initiative with Kolkata Police and CRY ensuring adequate access to education for underprivileged children during this pandemic.”

Highlighting the long-term impacts of loss of education, Mohua Chatterjee, Programme Head for CRY Operations in Eastern India said, “This partnership aims to link the children with education, and help in realizing their dreams in future. At CRY we believe that children should enjoy their childhood and they realize their full potential to fulfil their dreams. This programme will not only link the children with education, it will also ensure that they are not engaged in child labour or get married off under-age. Our aim is to keep the children safe and free from any abuse and ensure enabling environment to learn and grow.”

“We are immensely happy to have joined hands with both Kolkata Police and Bharti Airtel in this initiative. This is just the beginning of journey together with the Kolkata police. We are grateful to them and all the people who have come forward to support the cause,” Mohua added.