Fee-paying India ‘thief schools’ teach children how to pick pockets at wealthy weddings
Parents in poor Indian villages pay top dollar to send children to ‘schools’ which prepare them for a life of crime
So-called fee-paying thief schools in India are training teenagers for a life of crime.
The criminal education includes a range of lessons which produce “professional” gangsters on “graduation”.
Three villages in Madhya Pradesh, central India – Kadia, Gulkhedi, and Hulkhedi – are notorious for training children to steal, according to NDTV, an Indian news media outlet.
Parents send their children, around 12 to 13 years old, to these “thief schools” where they join local criminal gangs and receive skills training.
The “teachers” are gang members and seasoned criminals.
The curriculum includes pickpocketing, bag-snatching in crowded places, evading the police, and withstanding beatings. Children are also taught how to gamble and sell alcohol.