LSE Exposure Visit to a Police Station

The Life Skills Empowerment (LSE) program, under the Education vertical is a learning program for the adolescent beneficiaries of the select slum communities of Andheri east and neighbouring areas the north of Mumbai, where they are taught the most basic skills needed in life to survive with the aim of their mental and psycho-socio development. This includes the list of skills listed by the WHO (World Health Organisation) like the reflective skills (such as critical thinking and problem solving), personal skills (such as self-awareness in terms of physical as well as mental changes that teenage years bring with it) and inter-personal skills.

A very important aspect of the LSE program includes workshops on self-defence as well as exposure visit trips covering police stations, post offices, planetariums, hospitals, banks etc. in order to expose them to the formalities of these various institutions so as to empower them with the knowledge to approach any of these independently and with confidence in case of emergencies.

The latest exposure visit of the LSE adolescents was to a police station nearby, which was attended by a total of all 100 LSE beneficiaries. The visit started with a brief introduction about the set-up of the Police Station (information on who sits there), followed by a discussion on what are the different types of crimes and how to recognise it when one is getting cheated or facing injustice. The next step was the information on how to file complaints, FIRs (First Information Reports) and other types of formalities and work done in the police station and ended with an interactive question-answer session among the police officers and the young adults of LSE.

With such exposure visit, we try and inculcate the very important element of self-confidence and knowledge to take necessary steps in times of unforeseen situations in life and survive with their heads held high and we are glad to say that the LSE beneficiaries found this trip extremely fruitful and informative!