That 11,000 out of 32,000 secondary and higher secondary educational institutions are yet to form anti-narcotic awareness committees while the rest mostly have ineffective and inactive committees is disconcerting.
Given that drug addiction leads to various forms of social problems, especially among students, as it leads to problems of poor attendance, falling grades and disturbing environment at educational institutions, in general, the Department of Narcotics Control took an initiative to form anti-narcotic committees at schools in 2009.
In response, the secondary and higher education directorate joined the initiative in 2015 with 21,000 schools, colleges and madrassahs out of 32,000.
Forming such committees as of now. While 11,000 educational institutions have failed to even form the much-needed committees, it has been observed, disappointingly, that the committees that have been formed have largely been dysfunctional.
At a recent conference for head teachers, the majority of attendees admitted to having to deal with problems of drug addiction among their students at varying degrees. Although there is no official statistics in regards to the drug addiction rate among students and the population in general, according to the latest Annual Drug Report, there are around 5 million drug users in the country.
Among them, 65 per cent are aged between 15 and 30. It is important to remember that at their age, students can, indeed, often be misled into abusing drugs that damage their wellbeing. According to drug control officials, many students also take drugs to cope with competition, stress, frustration, dissatisfaction and unhealthy expectations.
Thus, it is essential for them to have proper guidance and counseling which can help them to cope with stress and anxiety instead of using drugs. By providing these through anti-narcotic awareness committees, schools can play an integral part in preventing drug abuse among students.
Yet, despite the seriousness of the situation and the grave necessity for such committees at educational institutions, most of the committees that have been set up till now have failed to have much of an impact mostly because of lack of monitoring and proper implementation.
Under the circumstances, in order to reduce drug use among students, it is imperative for all educational institutions to set up properly functioning anti-narcotic awareness committees as proposed by the narcotics control department.
In this regard, the government should immediately remind all educational institutions that the students of today will be nation builders of tomorrow and, hence, instruct them to put serious effort into forming such committees that can assist students in handling their day-to-day problems and refrain from using drugs as a means of coping with problems.
While educational institutions should do their part in discouraging students from using drugs and encouraging them to use other means instead, the government should also plan clampdown on the suppliers of drugs to prevent people, in general, and students, in particular, from falling prey to their enticements.
