'Schools of thieves' that train children to become criminals in India are being condemned.

According to Indian media outlet NDTV, three villages—Kadia, Gulkhedi, and Hulkhedi—in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh are notorious for training child thieves. The criminal education program includes a series of lessons designed to train "professional" criminals upon their "graduation."

Pickpocketing is a core part of the curriculum at theft training schools. Photo: WeChat

Parents pay fees to send their children, aged 12 to 13, to these "thief training schools." There, they join local criminal gangs and receive skills training from "teachers" who are experienced gang members and criminals.

The curriculum includes pickpocketing, snatching bags in crowded places, evading the police, and enduring corporal punishment. Children are also taught how to gamble and sell alcohol. Each course at the "school of theft" costs between 200,000 and 300,000 rupees (US$2,400 to US$3,600).

The students often come from poorly educated and impoverished families. They are trained to fit in with wealthy families and attend the most extravagant weddings of the upper class.

After a year of schooling, these teenagers can "graduate" by stealing jewelry at wealthy weddings. The children, upon graduation, are said to earn five to six times their tuition fees, and their parents can also receive annual payments of 300,000 (US$3,600) to 500,000 rupees from gang leaders.

Police say more than 300 children from such schools have been involved in wedding thefts across India. On August 8, at a lavish wedding in the northwestern Indian city of Jaipur, a thief stole a bag containing jewelry worth 15 million rupees ($180,000) and 100,000 rupees in cash.

In March, a 24-year-old thief who had graduated from a theft training school stole a bag of jewelry at a wedding in the northern Indian city of Gurgaon. Police Inspector Ramkumar Bhagat said that because most of the criminals are minors, police "face many challenges" in taking action.

Those convicted of theft in India can face sentences of up to seven years in prison and fines. However, India's legal system is somewhat more lenient in dealing with juvenile offenders, focusing on rehabilitation and education.

Villagers also sheltered juvenile offenders, making it even more difficult for the police to combat the growing network of professional thieves.

Such schools rife with theft have drawn widespread condemnation on social media. One commenter wrote: "These children could use the tuition for a formal education. It is the impoverished social environment that has led them astray."

"These parents exploit their children's crimes to make money. They are not fit to be parents," another person wrote.

Hoai Phuong (according to SCMP)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/truong-hoc-trom-cap-dao-tao-tre-em-thanh-toi-pham-o-an-do-bi-len-an-post309867.html