Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Police is set to open Digital Deaddiction Centres, shortened as D-Dad, for rescuing children who are addicted to online games and porn sites.
The State Government has approved the pilot scheme submitted by the police in this regard.
The project will be implemented in Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Thrissur and Kozhikode during the first phase. The State Government has allocated Rs 1.30 crore for starting the project in these four centres.
The counselling to students will be given both online and offline. Those who need more support will be given detailed offline counselling at district centres. Others will be given online counselling.
The programme will also be made operational under the limits of 126 child-friendly police stations.
It is for the first time that the police are launching digital de-addiction centres for children in the country.
Among the States, Kerala has the highest number of internet users and mobile phone subscribers. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, both studies and examinations for children from nursery classes were held online. As a result children learnt how to use mobile phones and the internet. But some of them started misusing it. Even after class hours, they continued to use laptops, mobile phones and tabs. Many of them got addicted to playing online games and watching porn sites. This realisation propmted the police to moot the idea of digital de-addiction method to the government.
The police will implement the scheme with the support of the Departments of Education, Health, and Woman and Child. The psychiatrists, who have thorough knowledge in the use of the internet, will be posted in each de-addiction centre for counselling.
The service of the JanaMaithri Police will be used to sensitise the public, parents, teachers and students on the de-addiction programme.
Police getting frantic calls from parents
Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Manoj Abraham, who is in-charge of the Kerala Police headquarters, said that the police took the lead to design such a project as it is getting hundreds of frantic calls from the worried parents in each police station, seeking help to rescue their wards from the grip of online games and porn sites.
According to the ADGP, consultations are going on with the IT companies over developing suitable software for the project. The scheme is likely to be launched within two months.
The main challenge in the implementation of the project is the non-availability of trained psychiatrists for counselling the affected students. Those policemen who are qualified in this field will be pressed into service after giving them training.
At first, the affected students will be encouraged to play small games designed as part of the project as a strategy to dissuade them from playing big and risky online games.
