What are the strategies of dealing with students on drugs?

a) Developing professional skills of guiding and counseling students:
The assumption that anyone can counsel students on drugs should be avoided particularly by parents, school administrators and religious leaders. These agents need to he educated and informed on the right steps to follow while counseling student on drugs. Adequate training be given to teachers opting to offer guidance and counselling in schools. Guidance and counselling teachers should be selected based on volunteering and not subject clusters. This is an area that needs ones interest and devotion. Skills such as effective communication, confidentiality, friendliness and fairness should be considered during selection.

b) Adopting more and better strategies of Drug Education:
Drug education campaigns among students should be based on the need to increase their knowledge and understanding of drugs, drug use and related issues. Knowledge of drugs needs to be based on accurate information and should acknowledge both the benefits and risks of drug use.. Drug education should be an integral part of the regular school curriculum. Supplying youths with drug information early in life may determine the future trend of drug abuse.
Within the school, education on drugs should be carried out by regular school teachers. Using outsiders tends to sensationalize the issue and reinforces the idea among students that teachers cannot talk about drugs. Many outsiders use discredited 'shock/scare' approaches, exaggerate dangers and do not relate their input to the situation of the students they are addressing. Teachers know their pupils well and are available to them on an ongoing basis. Unlike outsiders, they are trained and skilled in understanding students. They are able to structure and use a variety of teaching methods. Teachers are also able to avoid examples that touch on students5 backgrounds and are damaging to learners. Outsiders may occasionally supplement teachers' efforts but their input needs to be carefully assessed.

c) Government Involvement:
The rehabilitation of student drug abusers faces funding challenges. The government should help set up more drug rehabilitation centres. These should be non-denominational and independent of psychiatric hospitals. Each province should have at least one trained person to serve as a referral point for cases of drug abuse, a national policy on treatment approaches for drug – dependent persons should be established and periodically evaluated. There should be more approved schools to rain and counsel drug abusers. Also needed are more recreational centres to occupy idle and unemployed persons. There is need to fund activities that can reduce drug abuse such as involving street children in cleaning towns and estates.
The Ministry of Education should ensure that every school has an active and creative drug abuse prevention program. Prevention efforts, such as saying "NO" to drugs and learning about their potential dangers must start in the early grades, not in high school. Early identification of drug-abusing youngsters and swift efforts to ameliorate the problem should be the norm in schools. All schools need substance abuse counsellors who are especially skilled at identifying drug-abusing youngsters’ and providing the necessary assistance or referral. Despite escalating drug abuse in schools, most school teachers receive no formal training on methods of identifying and assisting students on drugs. This must be corrected by requiring teacher training colleges to make drugs and drug management a core curriculum. Unemployment is a major contributor of stress that culminates in drug abuse among students. The government should intensify its efforts in job creation. Further, it needs to ensure that the content of mass media does not influence students in the direction of drug use. Police should take action against video show rooms where drugs are sold. Public land that was originally meant for social amenities like playing fields but which ended up being a allocated for other purposes should be repossessed.
Social halls should be built to provide youths with arenas for informative forums on drugs.

c) Involvement of Everybody:
The fight against drug abuse among students should be the responsibility of everyone in society. Efforts should be directed at reducing stress at school, home and the country as a whole. People should be equipped with skills and knowledge of identifying drugs, drug abusers and peddlers. Parents should be on permanent alert to be able to notice any change in their children's behaviour. Older members of society should act as role models to the youth.

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francis1897 answered the question on August 23, 2022 at 05:05