9-hour English lessons for cops

Over 40,000 personnel of Delhi police are now 'English literate' and 'well mannered'. They have undergone behavioural and English speaking and writing training to ensure an international standard policing during the Commonwealth Games. Delhi Police Commissioner Y.S. Dadwal has spent lakhs of
rupees to ensure the Games have 'smart policemen'.

And the policemen have achieved this is a short span of time. Each policeman took just nine hours to learn English and three days to become 'well mannered'.

Dadwal sent them to IL&FS to become English-literate and to Amity Institute of Training and Development (AIT&D) for Police and Security Personnel to learn etiquette.

Rajan Bhagat, Delhi police spokesperson, said: "The police personnel, ranging from constables to inspectors, have undergone training so that they can police better during the Games. The policemen were taught how to communicate with foreigners in English and also trained to behave properly with foreign guests. The programmes groomed participants on basic skills of spoken English, communication and common courtesies."

However, many of the policemen who have undergone training are not happy.

A head constable of Delhi police said: "We were given some theoretical lessons in both the programmes. Behavioural training though had some worth, English classes were just useless. If one could learn English within a few hours, the number of English-literate people in India would not be so less."

"They taught us some terminology like 'first information report', 'complaint', 'arrest', 'theft', 'burglary' and 'detain'. They also taught us how to describe a person in English like 'he is tall', 'he is well built', 'man with dark complexion', 'he has sharp features', etc.," said a sub-inspector.

"We were expecting to learn something which we do not know. But most of us already knew what we were being taught. We were not illiterate."

Prashant K Dhyani, officer of IL&FS, who is in charge of the police training programme, said: "We have trained over 40,000 policemen in about 1,200 batches. The Delhi Police paid us Rs 10,000 for each batch."