Sunshine on the balcony: How a Howrah police initiative is keeping children out of crime

It began quietly in March 2024 with just 25 children sitting hesitantly on the verandah of Women Police Station under Howrah police commissionerate. Today, the number has grown to 71. The balcony of a Women’s police station has now grown into a structured learning initiative impacting first-generation learners—many of whom were once at high risk of slipping into begging, child labour, substance abuse, or petty crime.

The initiative, called ‘Barandaye Roddur’ (Sunshine on the balcony), operates from the Women’s Police Station of Howrah City Police. Conceived during the tenure of then Police Commissioner Praveen Kumar Tripathi, the programme is now being driven on the ground by Inspector-in-Charge Kakali Ghosh Kundu, who plans and oversees daily classes held on the police station’s balcony.

Re-entry into formal education

The children enrolled in the programme include ragpickers, platform dwellers, slum dwellers and street-connected children, most of them first-generation learners and school drop outs. A significant number were enrolled in primary schools before COVID-19 disrupted their education, pushing them out of classrooms and into survival work. As the years passed, their age increased—from 8 to 14, making re-entry into the formal education system increasingly difficult.

“Many of these children had studied earlier but dropped out during the pandemic,” said Inspector Kundu. “As they grew older, the risk was not just illiteracy but criminalisation as well as victimisation. Our aim is to channel their energy positively by securing their right to education..”

Howrah Women Police teams identify such children during patrols and outreach near railway stations, ghats, and informal settlements, and gradually bring them into the programme. What begins with basic literacy soon expands into life skills, emotional counselling, and structured learning routines.

Beyond academics

The impact is measurable. All participating children are now enrolled in government schools, a critical step in mainstreaming them into the education system. The programme is supported by responsible individuals, institutions, local schools and colleges, clubs, NGOs and alumni of reputed schools and who volunteer as teachers, mentors, and resource persons.

Beyond academics, children receive regular health check-ups, hot meals, and access to dance, yoga, and vocational training. In 2026, several students performed yoga and dance at the Kolkata International Book Fair, a symbolic moment that marked their transition from invisibility to public recognition.

In a post-pandemic city battling learning loss and inequality, the initiative shows that sometimes, the most effective way to prevent crime is not through force, but through education.

(Nibedita Sen is an independent journalist specialising in defence, with over 15 years of experience covering diverse topics like rural India, healthcare, education, and women’s issues.)

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