Monitoring of schools, colleges ordered to check drugs

Islamabad : Waking up to the growing use of illicit drugs among students, the regulator for government schools and colleges in Islamabad has ordered the strict monitoring of campuses, especially canteens and cafeterias, to check the availability of narcotics.

The educational institutions have also been asked by the FDE to report drug sale in the adjoining areas for a crackdown.

The development comes on the advice of the narcotics control ministry, which, during a recent meeting, sounded alarm at the ‘drugs making their way to educational institutions’ and pushed stakeholders, including the FDE, for steps to address the menace to benefit youths.

In 2017, a research institute, SASSI, had claimed after carrying out a pilot study on the use of illegal substances by students in Islamabad that drug addiction in private educational institutions was 44 per cent among students aged 12-14 and 53 per cent among those aged 14-20, while the percentage was two in government schools and colleges. However, the assertion was rejected by both the schools and their regulators as greatly exaggerated.

The drug abuse in educational institutions recently prompted the Ministry of Narcotics Control to call a meeting of stakeholders, including FDE bosses.

Insisting that narcotics are available to students in ‘very delicate and innumerable shapes such as candies, ice balls, chewing gums, cannabis, e-cigarettes, flavoured smoking and other inhalants’, the ministry officials alerted participants to the dangers of drug abuse and drug acceptance in educational institutions and called for necessary measures to address the menace. The FDE, which oversees government schools and colleges in Islamabad Capital Territory, was quick to act accordingly.

Declaring drug abuse in educational institutions an ‘imminent threat to the country’s future generations’, it formally asked the administrative and academic heads of all government schools and colleges to keep a watchful eye on the activities and habits of their students and introduce a robust monitoring and inspection mechanism for canteens and cafeterias on campus or shops and facilities in the neighbourhood as an anti-narcotics measure.

They’re also told to form monitoring and inspection committees to check the use of illicit drugs both hard and soft by students and members of the administrative and academic staff.

The directorate said the sale of narcotics in the places adjacent to campuses should be reported to the law-enforcement agencies for a clampdown with its area education officers being in the loop.

It also asked AEOs for the strict monitoring of anti-drug committees in schools and colleges, and the compliance of staff members with orders against the use of illegal substances.

As directed by the FDE, the monitoring and inspection committees comprising principals, vice-principals and teachers handling student affairs will also create awareness of the dangers of drug use among students.

In another initiative promising a healthier learning environment, the regulator declared schools and colleges smoke-free zones banning both staff members and students from puffing at cigarettes, cigars or pipes on campus, and ordered the installation of surveillance cameras on the premises, including all unfrequented places.

At the same time, the FDE formed a committee comprising its coordination, administration, colleges and schools directors to examine anti-drug measures in educational institutions through regular visits.