Natham cops bring back 6 tribal dropouts to school

P Susila, woman head constable and Balakrishnan, another head constable, who are attached to Natham station, rendered yeoman service by identifying six tribal students as dropouts, sources said.

Susila, designated under the ‘Thozhi’ scheme to handle cases to help protect girl children and victims of crime against women, reached out to the dwellings of tribal hamlets such as Manakattur, Sendurai, Pillaiyarnatham and Kottaiyur before counseling the parents on the need for education to their children. Hailing from a tribal hamlet, Susila added that she knew the importance of education to achieve success and hence opted to find dropouts despite heavy policing duties.

With the cooperation of the Social Welfare Department and Education Department, a ‘WhatsApp group’ was created with a logo ‘Call for Help,’ involving teachers of schools and police personnel. Few months ago, headmaster from Manakattur Government School messaged the absence of students in the group that prompted her to identify them as dropouts. Among the six dropouts, five are girls of SSLC. More importantly, among the five girls, four were rescued after foiling bids of child marriage after they moved to Coimbatore and Tirupur, Susila said.

Taking into account their yeoman service, Dindigul Superintendent of Police VR Srinivasan on Sunday lauded their performance and presented certificates of appreciation to the cops, sources said.