Schools face drug test challenges
A Chatsworth pupil got hooked on drugs in his matric year. And the easy availability of dagga from his peers made it harder for him to kick the habit.
The teenager, who once had a razor-sh
arp mind, said although he had passed his exams, he would have scored higher marks had drugs not affected his concentration.
The boy, who is now on a rehabilitation programme, said, "I used to be dazed and unable to concentrate. I started smoking zol, then went on to Sugars. It wrecked my life and I only decided to give up when I got caught. Drugs have different effects on different people. They can make you sad, happy, reserved or violent."
It is such stories that have spurred Education Minister Naledi Pandor to take a hard-line approach to pupils using drugs at school.
Random drug testing at schools is being instituted to safeguard both teachers and pupils.
The department of education has identified drugs as the key cause of school violence, said department spokesperson Lunga Ngqengelele.
He said a Bill had been tabled last year and a team was reviewing public comment on drug testing devices.
"They will make recommendations to the minister, who will send out the guidelines in a form or circular. The law gives principals or people designated by them the power to search and conduct spot checks if there is reasonable suspicion that pupils are using drugs," Ngqengelele said.
But principals who are yet to receive the circulars are worried that teachers could become soft targets for deviant children and drug lords.
Principals are not willing to risk the welfare and safety of their teachers and urge that other strategies be devised, said Tongaat Principals’ Association chairman Peru Naidu.
"It is well known that teachers are labouring under severe stress in schools with regard to workloads and extra duties. Many are off sick for weeks on end. Principals would be hard-pressed to pile further pressure on their teachers, especially when there are threats to life and limb," Naidu said.
He said drug taking had to be seen in the context of school security.
"We should look at the causes rather than the symptoms and take steps to be proactive rather than be merely reactionary."
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A snap survey of the drug problem in schools had established that substance abuse varied in extent from one school to the next.
The type of drugs pupils use had recently shifted. Sugars were once high on the list but dagga, cigarettes and other drugs now seem more popular, according to principals.
They said many girls and boys were now being found under the influence of alcohol, which was either brought to school and drunk during the day or before the pupils arrived. More serious was drug peddling by pupils.
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