Prema V.T., a school counsellor at Government High School, Chala, says her understanding after speaking to students and their parents is that drug abuse among schoolchildren has increased since the start of COVID-19. “Earlier, students would go to school, and studies and various activities would keep them engaged. Now, they are at home, with lots of time on hand and not many ways to burn their energy. They are also hooked to mobile phones. It does not take much time for substances to reach them...all students and drug suppliers need to stay in touch is a mobile phone.”
Prema’s concern is not an isolated one. In yet another initiative to check the increasing prevalence of substance abuse among schoolchildren, the Women and Child Development Department and the Social Justice Department have joined hands to equip school counsellors to identify early and manage high-risk behaviour of schoolchildren.
950 counsellors
Being held in partnership with Project Venda (‘No’), a programme of the Fourth Wave Foundation, an NGO, the initiative aims at reaching out to children through school counsellors. There are around 950 school counsellors in the State, and the departments plan to equip the counsellors to detect and prevent students from falling into the drug trap through workshops as part of the National Action Plan for Drug Demand Reduction.
C.C. Joseph, founder of the foundation, says students are at high-risk from three aspects – as users, as peddlers, and because of the impact on them from someone close to them who is using such substances. From their training programmes, he estimates 10-15% prevalence of drug abuse among students. However, the remaining student population is also vulnerable, and hence focus should also be on preventive aspects.
Master trainers first
Six counsellors from each of the 14 districts, and a few others such as Our Responsibility to Children (ORC) trainers, Integrated Child Protection Scheme counsellors and so on participated in an online workshop for master trainers. The training was conducted by experts such as doctors, psychiatrists, and child psychologists. The sessions focussed on role of teachers and counsellors in early intervention, care and protection; school, community, and home influences; child-related issues leading to addiction and abuse; managing drug-related incidents without leading to stigmatisation; community participation, and so on.
The master trainers will, in turn, train other counsellors online for effective interventions, beginning next week. A handbook for counsellors has also been brought out as part of Project Venda.
