Police hailed for removing children from video shows

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Primary School block

Teachers and parents have hailed Police in Chiradzulu for removing children from markets and video shows during school hours and sending them back to school.

As there was a rise in number of crimes committed by youth in Chiradzulu, police officers through the department of community policing started reaching out to learners in their respective schools with the aim of sensitising them on crime prevention and also on the importance of education.

In an interview with Malawi24, John Sintchaya, one of the parents in the district said the police did a great job by changing her son’s behavior of going to video shows.

“Since the introduction of translated films from different languages to Chichewa, my son developed a habit of going to video shows rather than going to school. This made me to advise him the importance of going to school rather than to video shows but he ignored my advice. One day, Police officers found him in the video show during school hours, and they took him to Chiradzulu Police Station. From that time, he has never gone to video show during school hours,” said Sintchaya.

Knox Ndalama, a head teacher at Namadzi primary school in the district also appreciated the work which the police are doing.

“I appreciate what the police officers are doing. They have been coming here sensitizing learners on important issues such as the importance of education, teaching them how to cross on the road among other things.

“On top of that, the police removes youth from video shows during school hours. This forces children to attend classes in fear of the police hence making the school to register many learners per day as compared to the past,” Ndalama said.

Sergeant Yohane Tasowana Public Relations officer of Chiradzulu Police station agreed saying they introduced a program called “School outreach program” in which they sensitize learners on crime prevention and the importance of education in their respective schools as a result of seeing many youth in markets and video shows during school hours.

“It has been noted that some of the learners instead of going to school they tend to go to video shows. Because of this, police officers who are in patrol are making sure that no child should been seen in these video shows during school hours. In addition to that, Police officers through the department of community policing go and reach learners in their respective schools with the aim of sensitize them on crime prevention and also encourage them on the importance of education,” said Tasowana.

In Chiradzulu, Police officers are working hand in hand with teachers in making sure that children are safe from things that can harm their future.

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