Citation
(2003), "Police go slow", Work Study, Vol. 52 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/ws.2003.07952fab.008
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2003, MCB UP Limited
Police go slow
Police in the Indian province of Maharashtra are taking part in a huge IT training project involving 120,000 officers from 900 geographically-dispersed stations. The project is part of a government drive to computerise India's police forces. All those under 55 are to take the course – that's around 120,000 people out of the total of 150,000.
Developed by Zee Interactive Learning, the 132-hour course leads to a Maharashtra State Certificate in IT and covers PC basics, Microsoft Office applications and how to use the Internet. The training is being delivered through a network of 78 Zee-affiliated training centres, alongside a dedicated IT training centre set up by Zee at the force's Mumbai HQ.
However, the scale of the project, coupled with a patchy infrastructure, means the project has slipped significantly behind the planned deployment.
Zee's president Arun Khetan predicts that the project will take two more years to complete. "We expect it will take a minimum of eight successive batches of training of three months duration," he says. However, the benefits mean the investment is well worthwhile and will make a significant impact on the future effectiveness and productivity of the force.