Jammu and Kashmir is facing silent epidemic of drug abuse as it’s rising dramatically around the surroundings and no one seems to know how to stem the tide. Over from few years, the percentage of drug use has reached an all-time high. Substance abuse is rapidly assuming epidemic proportions in our society engulfing a significant population of our youth including the young females. Statistics regarding magnitude of the menace of substance abuse in our society emerging from various de-addiction centres of J&K are quite worrisome and alarming and therefore call for a systematic and scientific approach for countering.
Drugs are one of the major problems that the nation has been facing.The use of drugs from bedroom to classrooms has been increasing tremendously causing serious concerns into all parts of the society. Education provided in schools plays an instrumental role in educating children and teens about the problems of consuming drugs. Education on how to successfully deal with the youngsters who are mostly inclined to consume drugs, should be addressed in order to produce future potential young generations. Drug abuse in schools is strictly prohibited, but ironically most drug abuse starts from schools. One of the factors why that happen is that school teachers lack the knowledge to talk about it in their classroom and school environment. Teachers can play a significant role in curbing drug and substance abuse because they spend much of time with the students in schools.The teaching competency of teachers is needed in drug and substance abuse prevention. Some studies found that the school teachers still have lack of knowledge to talk about drug abuse in their classrooms and school environment. Teachers must have to step up from pedagogical conceptual knowledge and set up the experimental teaching practices and must have to show commitment to help, to avoid and control drug abuse and especially for young adult teacher’s are important role models and unfortunately if teachers are assuming that parents are only options for handling the drug abuse and the parents are not stepping up to the plate, then the kids are being left more at risk for substance abuse. Drug education is to be taken seriously and is a crucial factor in addressing deep seeded menace in our society and hence the teachers have a great role and responsibility to play in eradicating this social menace. Following are the ways teachers can do in eradicating drug and substance abuse.
1) Teachers should educate the youth by warning them that using drugs substance can be fatal to their lives.
2) Teachers should focus on imparting a proper moral education to students during the morning assembly.
3) Teachers must encourage the students to take part in different sport’s activities and can channelize their energy towards the constructive idea’s.
4) Teachers should assist the govt, police, Doctors, civil society, & NGO’s in the campaign against drug abuse & drug addiction and those addicted should not be isolated or discriminated. They should be treated as patients and can give orientation on vocational, educational and personal adjustment so as to make them healthy and wealthy. The school authorities and parents should watch out for bad companies and symptoms of drug and substance abuse among the students and if found any, parents of such students should be counseled first and then the person who got indulged in this menace. The magnitude of the menace of substance abuse in our society is increasing dramatically and are quite worrisome and alarming and therefore call for a systematic and scientific approach for countering and can be handled though community based interventions, a multi dimensional approach and strategies needs to be devised and adopted to counter the menace. Moreover, Govt must introduce a comprehensive policy within the school curriculum that can provide a deep knowledge about the effects of drugs among the young generation. The govt must emphasise that school institutions must be actively involved in drug prevention and the school administrative department can release a guidelines for teaching competencies of classroom teachers in certain subjects for curbing drug and substance abuse. The time has come that the education for drug abuse prevention should be seen to be included in school curriculum/syallabus and the formal start must be initiated at an earliest which will help in the creation of a safe and healthy school environment as well as involvement of the family and community in the planning and delivery of policies and programmes to stop this menace in the society. Schools are important places and can play a pivotal role in implementing different prevention programmes that seek to reduce and eliminate the risk of engagement of young generation in this deadly menace and their outcomes should be evaluated regularly to provide evidence of their worth and to improve the design of future programmes regarding this menace. In Conclusion, an effective partnership, coordination and collaboration between Govt, school authorities and other stake holders like Parents, Teachers, Doctor’s, &NGO’s, Different organisations need to be fostered and these exercises can plays an important role in shaping and keeping our young generation safe from this drug menace and other social evils. The drug related activities are increasing day by day thereby giving serious challenges to each and every responsible citizen of our society and when everyone irrespective of sex or age takes it as a social not individual responsibility to fight drug abuse and correct its consequences, a healthy society can be developed and the lives of many who have fallen and may fall in the deadly grip of drugs can be saved.
(The author is a Teacher by profession. Views are his own)
