Schools urged to fight drug, substance abuse
BY AUDREY KAPALAMULA:
Players in the education sector have been urged to step up efforts to protect children from drug and alcohol abuse.
Malawi Girl Guide Association National Coordinator, Mphatso Bakuwa Jimu, said schools should have structures to protect the youth from accessing drugs and substances found within their localities.
Jimu, through the association, on Saturday petitioned the office of Lilongwe District Education Manager (Dem), asking it to put in place interventions that will protect the youth from drug and substance abuse.
“We are actually asking the Dem to make sure that our schools are safe from drugs and alcoholic substances by putting in place measures that can protect girls and boys from these substances. We are also asking them to use community structures to deal with the problem,” she said.
She said stakeholders have to be familiar with the National Alcohol Policy, which was launched last year, if they are to win the battle.
Magga engaged various schools in Lilongwe in the campaign to end the practice
Senior Inspector of Schools, Susan Phukaphuka, said most young people have become victims of substance abuse because they do not understand human rights and the responsibility that comes with rights.
“Most students engage into this behaviour in the name of human rights. They are forgetting that they have a responsibility,” she said
Lilongwe City Council Deputy Mayor, Jullian Kaduya, said the council is working with police to make sure that all liquor shops do not operate during school hours.
The campaign attracted participants from different primary and secondary schools.
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