We must keep our schools drug-free

THE EDITOR: Last Monday, the Board of Education of the Integrated Education Project of Servol and the Ministry of Education welcomed citizens to one of the most noteworthy events in Trinidad and Tobago. We cannot solve indiscipline and violence among our students if we don’t try as much as is humanly possible to keep them drug free. That is why the IEP’s drug awareness week should be hailed as one of the greatest measures ever introduced in the nation’s schools to help solve many of our social ills. During the years I worked as a secondary school teacher, I witnessed on more than one occasion, security guards being beaten up by students. Most of them were not sober when they committed these violent acts.

While I fully support additional security in our schools, the fact is that the school compound will always be a dangerous place if students are not sober. We all know that many people lose their mental faculty when they drink too much alcohol or when they use illegal drugs, yet we are failing to put serious measures in place in many of our homes schools and communities to prevent children from using and abusing alcohol and illegal drugs. There are clubs cropping up all over the country and most of these are patronised by young people who believe that they must drink and lime with friends at these clubs in order to enjoy themselves. This is the extent to which many of our youth are brainwashed. While a few people are able to control their intake of alcohol, the vast majority cannot do so. Many of these chronic alcoholics are good citizens but they need urgent help even though they think they don’t. Most of the people who commit suicide, rape and murder do so when they drink or take illegal drugs. Only recently a primary school student from Debe was raped by her own cousin after he had a few drinks.

A few weeks ago, a 14-year-old-boy was murdered while liming outside a bar in the wee hours of the morning. I wish to point out that other minors can be seen liming in bars at all hours of the night and day, and we wonder why this is so. It’s clear that adults who are responsible for these children have lost control of them for one reason or another. While substance abuse by children can be blamed to some extent on peer pressure, the fact is that we may lose control of kids if we are not exemplars in our homes. The illegal drug trade is very dangerous and none of you, my dear students, should become involved in this evil act. I wish to state clearly that a large number of kidnappings in Trinidad and Tobago are drug-related. I warn you that your life will become a living hell if you fall into the trap of trying to make easy money by selling illegal drugs to others. Many people involved in illegal drugs have been murdered and you can also become a victim. If you are using illegal drugs, you may soon become useless to society because no drug addict can be trusted. I therefore advise you to seek our help in order to get back to a drug-free life.

HARRACK BALRAMSINGH
Chairman, IEP Board of Education
La Romaine