A class in progress at the Guagaon camp. Picture by Kausik Sen

Guagaon/Gunjaria (North Dinajpur), Sept. 3: Till three months ago, State Armed Police (SAP) personnel of the 4th Battalion posted at the special camp at Guagaon, 25 km from Raiganj, did nothing but laze around, playing cards or listening to radio till duty called them at sunset.

Now these constables and officers spend their days interacting with children in the area, helping them with their studies and playing with them. A similar sight greets visitors to the other SAP camp at Gunjaria, around 50 km away, near Islampur.

Jaswanth Singh, the officer-in-charge of the unit at Guagaon, said the two camps were set up eight years ago. “Besides me, there are six constables at the camp and all of us have been here for the past two years. Our duty is to patrol the local villages from 6 pm to around 3 am every day,” Singh said.

“Noticing that most of the children in the area never went to school, we decided to set up a coaching centre for them,” Singh said. “We opened the centre three months ago.”

Classes are held from 3 pm to 6 pm every day. When it rains, the 150-odd children and their “tutors” retreat to the verandah of a rural hospital in the locality.

“Earlier we used to be scared of going to the policemen for lessons. But now we enjoy these classes more than those at school,” said Class-III student Samsuddin, one of the few children who go to school.

At Gunjaria, more than 350 children gather at the manicured garden at the SAP camp every day. “We do not have the financial means to send our children to private tutors. The effort of the police is laudable and we are grateful to them,” said a guardian.

Mukunda Das, the assistant sub-inspector in charge of the Gunjaria camp, said they have approached the block development officer for a shade so that classes can be held there during the rainy season. “We have also told the panchayat administration to provide us with blackboards which we do not have. In fact, we do not have any blackboard at either of the camps. However, no one has come forward with any help so far,” Das said.

The commandant of the battalion, T. F. Sherpa, said he was proud to be associated with the men of his battalion. “We aim to open more such centres. Besides maintaining the law and order situation, it will pave the way for an ideal police-public relationship,” Sherpa said from his office at Raiganj.