Kolkata Police not only keeps the citizens of one of the largest cities in India safe but also engages deeply in various other aspects of the residents’ lives – sports, education, culture, environment, heritage, animal welfare – to name a few. I was deeply moved by the picture of a Kolkata Police traffic constable, which justifiably went viral on social media, standing in pouring rain, going about his duty in very adverse circumstances, but also sharing the modest protection of his umbrella with a number of street dogs. The care and compassion that Kolkata Police represents now – under the inspirational leadership of Commissioner Mr Soumen Mitra IPS – was encapsulated in that one picture.
Over the years the Kolkata Police has been British Council’s valued partners, enabling us to work together on a variety of programmes and activities for the benefit of the city and its people. Our areas of cooperation have been at many levels of culture and sports, and now being extended to English language and soft skills training, aimed at professionalising the force and meeting the ever more complex demands made on every police personnel because of ubiquitous presence of social media and Kolkata’s growing international stature.
Mr Soumen Mitra IPS, Commissioner of Police, Kolkata and I recently launched “Communicate with Confidence”, a customised communication skills course for the personnel of Kolkata Police in the presence of Ms Barbara Wickham OBE, Director India, British Council and Ms Sophie Ross, Acting British Deputy High Commissioner.
The course is specially designed by British Council for the Kolkata Police with a strong focus on improving the police officers’ soft skills through the English language.
The aim of the online course is to enhance communication skills to support crucial communication during interacting with the public, in interstate and international cooperation and related work areas.
It will help participating police officers with skills in supporting the rising number of international tourists visiting Kolkata.
It will benefit not only the people in the city, but also the entire state and the eastern and northeastern region.
The course focuses on building speaking skills and confidence. Participants will get extensive opportunities during the live online classes to practice communication skills. They will develop fluency, vocabulary, and pronunciation thereby enhancing their confidence across ranks, and improving their interaction with the citizens. The 22.5 hour-course will be delivered across seven weeks, through bi-weekly classes.
Being a major tourist hub and a gateway to India for many neighbouring countries, the Kolkata Police also engages with international tourists. Stronger communication skills can aid improved international perception not just for the police force, but the state and the nation.
The course will be available to 1,500 police force officers across ranks. Forty officers have already signed up and about to begin classes this month.
At the inauguration of the course, Soumen Mitra IPS, Commissioner of Police, Kolkata, said, “We look forward to working with British Council and are sure that the specially designed, holistic communication course will add long-term value to our officers. It will not only enhance the public experience while interacting with the Kolkata Police department but will also increase output of our police officers while providing and seeking information, interviewing witnesses or suspects, and dealing with court cases. Kolkata being a major tourist hub and a gateway to India for many neighbouring countries, stronger communication skills and improved English language proficiency will help our officers overcome the language barrier while dealing with international tourists.”
Ten officers attended the inaugural demonstration class, organised specially to mark the launch of the programme at the British Council, observing all Covid-19 safety protocol of course. Over 40 officers have already signed up for the course and four of them are women.
Inspector Subhash Adhikary, Officer in Charge of Charu Market Police Station, who was one of the first to sign up for the course and attended the demo class, said, “Soft skills and English communication is very useful for our day-to-day work, interacting with the public we serve, especially people from other parts of India who may not speak either Bangla or Hindi, and international visitors, and for filing reports. This training is more educational, and therefore somewhat different from the other more technical professional training and development that we have to undertake. Policing demands high level of communication skills and cooperation with a wide range of stakeholders, as I learnt while I was on an international peace keeping mission in Kosovo in 2003-4. I have been encouraging my fellow officers to improve their English for a long time for more opportunities and this course is an excellent way to do enhance one’s communication skills and get certified by the British Council.”
Ridhima Somaiya, senior teacher of the British Council who facilitated the demo class observed, “all the officers who took part were very enthusiastic learners. Since this is a communicative English and soft skills course, there is a lot of stress on group and pair work and the participants responded to this challenge brilliantly.”
The launch of the programme received excellent coverage in both state and national media, in print as well as electronic media. A total of 34 news items appeared that reached an estimated 283 million / 28.3 crore readers and viewers.
British Council has been in Kolkata since we started operating in India in 1948. Our celebrations for India’s 75th anniversary, which we are planning together with the central and state governments, will dovetail into our 75 years in India in 2023.
Our presence and work in West Bengal received a huge fillip when we signed a memorandum of Understanding with the Govt of West Bengal in 2018. While the education, research, innovation and cultural links between Bengal and Britain has always been robust and is poised to become even stronger, communication training is one area that has really witnessed a lot of change in recent times. We have trained nearly 2000 officers in the state civil services since 2013.
What the British Council’s English course will support
Spoken English
- Speak effectively when delivering presentations and public speeches
- Conversation Skills
- Extempore skills
- Making effective contributions and standing out in group discussions
- Interactive listening
- Fostering a culture of speaking English at work
- Spoken conventions, including norms and decorum
- English for professional communication
- Awareness of style and everyday English
- Using clear, plain, modern English
Supporting language
- Pronunciation (including word and sentence stress, intonation, connected speech and phonemes)
- Constructing plain English sentences
- Using grammar to increase fluency and speech clarity
- Functional language such as connectors, discourse markers etc.
- Transactional and interactive language
To register, interested Kolkata Police personnel may contact:
Mr Soven Banerjee,
Assistant Commissioner of Police, Headquarters
Email: bsoven86@gmail.com
Mobile: 98301 37793
