In an attempt to improve safety and discipline on the college campuses, the Pune City Police on Wednesday unveiled a year-long program, Secure Horizons in Education 2025, that will aim to solve a rise in issues like drunk driving, drug consumption, women’s safety, cybersecurity threats and other issues among students. The program will be conducted in collaboration with educational institutes and various teams of the city police, beginning this month and will go on till December 2026 in its first phase.
The year-long program, headed by Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar, begins immediately with preparations, nominations of student ambassadors from colleges, and a three-day orientation workshop to be conducted in November and December.
In January and February 2026, a Road Safety Week will be observed, which will be conducted in collaboration with the traffic police, and over 100 street plays will be performed throughout Pune.
In March and April, a Gender Safety and Sensitisation programme will be conducted in collaboration with the Women’s Safety Cell. Safety circles and workshops will be a part of this programme.
In June and July, a Say No To Drugs programme will be conducted in collaboration with the Anti-Narcotics Cell. The programme will include a city-level contest.
In August and September, a Mental Health Month will be observed in coordination with mental health experts. The programme will include peer listening corners.
In October, a Cyber Safety Activities programme will be conducted in collaboration with the cyber cell of the police. This programme will include campus cyber audits.
November will include evaluation and awards for the complete programme, while December will include expansion and mentoring. A new cohort plan will also be prepared in December.
Speaking at the event, Kumar said, “Multiple cases of student indiscipline in Pune, including the Pune Porsche case, college fresher’s party incidents, Kharadi drug party, Moze Engineering College paper leak, among others, have brought disrepute to the city.”
“Over the last one-and-a-half years, I thought, probably would give an idea of where we stand, and whether we justify the tag of Oxford of the East for Pune. And what we need to do to try and address these issues, so that we can probably reinvent the Oxford of the East and try and see that the aberrations, the issues, which have probably caused a lot of dismay among the residents of Pune,” Kumar added.
Kumar further explained, “The parents supported this child by swapping his blood sample. What ethics and morality, what standing would that parent or guardian have in days to come to tell their child? So, the role of the parents and guardians is very important.”
The 2024 Porsche case refers to a drunk driving accident wherein a minor son of a famous city-based builder, under the influence of alcohol, crashed into and killed two people in Pune’s Kalyani Nagar.
Moreover, teacher and student representatives of various educational institutes like Savitribai Phule Pune University, Symbiosis International University, Fergusson College, MIT-WPU, SNDT College, Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Vishwakarma Institute of Technology, Annasaheb Magar College, and Jadhavar College were also present at the event.
