"Paid Indian thieves' schools" teach children to pick pockets

Parents in poor Indian villages pay top dollar to send children to 'schools' which prepare them 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.

A place at a "thief school" costs parents 200,000 to 300,000 rupees (US$2,400 to US$3,600) in tuition fees.

After a year of schooling, the teenagers could "graduate", stealing jewellery at the weddings of the rich.

The underworld education reportedly allows the teenagers to earn five to six times the amount of their tuition fees, and their parents can also receive an annual payment of 300,000 (US$3,600) to 500,000 rupees from gang leaders.

Police say that more than 300 children from such schools have been involved in wedding thefts across India.