By Sangita Iyer | Project Leader
I'm delighted to inform you that the State Police Chief is involving youth who have enrolled in the Student Police Cadet (SPC). Project Asian Elephants 101 is slated to be inaugurated on March 31st 2019 at the SPC HQ where 600 cadets will be participating!! We couldn't have asked for a better audience.
THIS IS THE FIRST EVER INITIATIVE INVOLVING AN AWARENESS CAMPAIGN ON ELEPHANTS FOR THE SPC!!
To provide some perspective, the SPC is a school-based initiative founded by the Kerala Police aimed at empowering high school students to respect the laws of the land, practice discipline and civic sense, while also developing empathy for the "vulnerable sections of society" including nature and wildlife. SPC also strengthens family bonds (just like the elephants), community and the environment movements, channeling the youth's energy in a positive direction, and veer off social evils such as substance abuse, deviant behavior, and intolerance.
As of 2018 the SPC Project covered 645 schools and more than 96,000 students are enrolled, with 1300 teachers trained as school-level community police officers. I've had the privilege to meet some of these SPCs in the past (attached are a couple of photos). I felt I needed to explain these details to you, so you understand how significant is the audience, and that it has taken 2.5 years to build a trusting relationship with the Kerala Police (since June 2016).
Meanwhile Project Asian Elephants 101 will be delivered between March 31st and April 6th, and I will of course bring you photos and videos. With regards to the nature retreat experience, I plan to take them to the Kottoor Elephant Rehab Center (KERC), where we will also create student leaders to monitor the way elephants are being treated. One student who had watched my film in New Delhi is planning to travel all the way to Kerala to attend the youth empowerment program. We have also found a young researcher who will be monitoring and documenting the reactions of the students (in addtion to videos).
Soon after the youth empowerment program I will announce VFAES's Youth Ambassador in India. I very much look forward to sharing so much more with you by the end of April, if not before then. Stay tuned.
Thank you so very much for your unending support! I'm immensely grateful to you! This is just the pilot project, and based on the lessons learned, we hope to roll out this program every single year, constantly introducing new incentives!
Infinite Gratitude!
Sincerely,
Sangita
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