Ganja infiltrating schools
-Waramadong students use gasoline and glue
Marijuana has penetrated the school system and students are walking around with red eyes and testing positive for the substance, according to Chief Welfare Officer Banmattie Ram, who says an intensive campaign has been initiated to tackle the problem.
Three students in the city have tested positive for marijuana use since the new school term and equally worrying was the issue of students at Waramadong, in Region Seven, that were getting high after sniffing a mixture of gasoline and Evostick glue. “The issue at Waramadong alarmed us so we went up and without any delay begun intensive counseling sessions… but the issue of drug use is more a problem in city schools than anywhere else, since most of our reports are in Georgetown,” Ram said during an oral presentation to the Parliament Sectoral Committee on Social Services on Friday.
Marijuana in the school system affected performance to some extent, but Ram was keen to point out that the numbers of reported cases were not that high. She confirmed that the illegal substance had been found on the person of a child only recently and said that matter was now before the courts.
The Ministry of Education policy regarding drug use, which Ram spoke of extensively, makes provisions for students to be handed over to the police if found with drugs. However, parents are first called in and the police are not allowed to make any arrests on school property.
MPs emphasised the issue of marijuana being readily available to school-age children and the presence of suspected drug pushers around schools, urging the Education Ministry to address the issues that were contributing to the problem of drug abuse in the school system.
Statistics such as the age, gender and actual numbers of children that were abusing drugs in schools were not available on Friday. Ram told the committee that they were still compiling data and were in the process of preparing a report, which would subsequently be passed on to the committee. It was also unclear as to whether students were working as drug contacts inside the system, since according to Ram, no study had been undertaken and there had also been no report.
Recent drug busts involving school-age children were among the concerns raised by the committee as it shifted focus from the actual complaints on file to how the Ministry of Education was dealing with the issue. Ram admitted that they were still working on strategies and stressed that there were campaigns targeting schools that were meant to sift out the students who were using drugs. She noted that the aim of those campaigns was not to embarrass and interrogate but to identify the students who needed help and to work with them.
Further, she pointed out that the ministry was collaborating with the Salvation Army with respect to drug testing and was also working along with other international agencies to effectively tackle the issue of drug use.
According to Ram, some educators in the system were aware of where the students got drugs and they were also privy to who might be dealing to them, but they were afraid to divulge such information given the dangers involved. She said that there was even a fear of speaking to the authorities, though based on the information she had received recently, there had been some amount of cooperation between the police and educators.
The committee grilled Ram on what was happening with welfare officers in school and the roles they were playing in addressing the social issues facing children. Ram stated that the country currently had welfare officers in every region, except Region Eight. She said the numbers were not sufficient, but that every school benefited from a visit each academic term. “It is not that we are not advertising for welfare officers, but the job is apparently not attractive because people are not applying and added to that those who are will not work outside of their regions…” she said. “What must we do in such instances?”
Ram said there was a need for welfare officers to fan out in schools across the country and work along with students, and noted that it might be possible in the immediate future.
Sharlene Johnson, HIV Coordinator, Ministry of Education, informed the committee that there was an existing Health and Nutrition programme that equipped teachers with the necessary skills to address social issues within the classroom. She noted that issues such as sex education were being integrated into core subjects at school and that children were being advised from early in their school lives.
Members of the committee, however, told Ram and Johnson that they were not satisfied with the amount of information that had been presented with respect to sex education in schools, adding that the education ministry would be called upon again to provide additional information. Minister of Education Shaik Baksh was scheduled to address the committee but failed to appear owing to another engagement.
oh my gosh, why they all acting brand new – marijuana has been around since the beginning of time and the older folks just would not give it up. Kids have been walking around with red eys, black lips and have been acting lethargic since …….”Headlines Maijuana has penetrated our schools system” What a big joke, as if this is any surprised. It has penetrated the system and de houseold lang, lang ago, when dem folks were gowing the mess right in dey house like a house plant.
Yea, it was cool back then and now we are all acting surprised. So now they are alarmed. I guess the fact crime rate has gone up has not alarmed them, or the fact that drugs on a large scale has made it’s way to Guyana for some time now has not alarmed them, or the fact that people has been chopping up each other while being high has not alarmed them or I could go on and on…….
Those people who are doing the drug test need to be tested, they may be huffing too. I know it is all about education and we need to educate our youths, and this is a great step. But let’s not be hypocritical here because they really should be testing the employees and employers, teachers, the whole bunch of them, the workplace and everybody should be tested.
On my! how dem children get de marijuana? The news report that they are aware of where the kids got the drugs from, but they are afraid of retaliation if they go after them. All I ask is for them to expand drug testing on a wider scale and not act like they just had an epiphany about marijuana being in the school system. Childen are a reflection of ourselves and our soceity and until everyone cleans their act up then
Yea, it is really serious because huffing will eat their brains out and this is hard to control because they kids can find any common household chemical to use. This is where the serious education need to implemented all the time and not when 3 kids comes up positive.
Hello – we are we being reactive instead of proactive and just making headlines instead of going after the real culprits – Hello
Anyway, that is just Dove’s view
Very good move by Education Ministry , giving the guidance and education to our children at this early age is the best way to prevent them from becoming drug addicts ,criminals , and definitely curbing domestic violence and sexual abuse in their lives .Sex education should be compulsory in every school as well as Welfare Officers , the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security should be involved , and their personnel be assigned to schools across the country.
This is very alarming, but not new, this was happennig in my school daze[days] , but maybe it’s transparent now.
….is any one surprised ???,, if u r ,, and whether ure in or out of GY ,, that is no excuse to not think that it may be in ur family or someone somehow connected to u ,,, the point here is ,, it’s ubiquitous ,,, and those whose life it has not as yet touched are not too far away from this malaise that is allowed to continue ,, despite all the wars ,, and lives lost ,, to rid the world of this that has now achieved the proportion of a manmade curse on himself ! wars by extension cost not only lives ,, but money ,, and of course wars create destruction ,, the kind of destruction that affects the lives of billions on the planet ,, where the divide bcomes ever more globally evident ,,
the high ,, from the smelling of the mind altering cocktail ,, is the result of ,, misguided minds who wil eventually use the participants to indulge in acts of depravity and,, other mindless activity ,, until it ends tragically !…. and the beat goes on !….. the more ,, foreigners we allow in our midst ,, it goes with the territory that they will be bringing with them their idiosyncracies and their way of life ,, their culture ,, will be their means of existence in a strange land ,, the question that is then ,, obvious is ,, why did they come here to live ,, ???
the answer to that is manifold ,, but the dynamics in the equation does not and can not be averted ,, for it is the main street hustle that is the main attraction of people in any metropolis ,,, and there in lies the criminal core !
Those tested positive for any drug use should be expelled, and send to the Mazaruni jail.
Start cutting them out, because they would sure spoil others..
They are all criminals in the making…
come on, you don’t send teenager to jails because they get high, they need to be educated and rehabilitated.
Arnold have you re-read that comment before hitting the submit button???
WHAT ABOUT ALCOHOL USE WHICH IS MUCH WORST
Well said Colin!!!
Like I’ve said before, Guyana seems to have reached rock bottom. SO much is wrong in our society that one has to scratch one’s head to figure out which mess to clean up first. But like with every evil in our society, it was spawned from somewhere. A tree doesn’t spring up overnight without the necessary conditions to give it life; whether it be criminal activity in all it’s shapes and forms – domestic violence, drug use/abuse/trafficking, stealing…..
The first step forward is acknowledging the problem. And that’s good. The Human Services Ministry gets kudos for that. Some of you bloggers state that it’s STALE News!!! Well, you see all y’all who subscribe to that are just part of the PROBLEM because if you knew that marijuana use has been around in schools long, long time now, then each had a duty to do something about it.
But no more is the adage that we are our brothers’ keepers, it’s every man fuh e’self. And that’s why Guyana is where it’s at now because of that mentality. I really do hope that Ms Ram and her team really make a difference in that fight.
BTW, where are the usual suspects who love to pontificate because they can? Mackydog, Evil eyes, Satish, Sandhurst among others. You guys loved to rip when we read about the child killers – Remember Fineman et al? Well this type of conduct/activity is part of the breeding ground!!!!!!!!
Evostick, Gasoline !!!! this is serious. These kids need serious councilling.
Education starts in the home, but in this case the gov will have to take the lead by passing new and stiffer laws on drug use.
All institutions must do mandatory drug testing before someone is employed, and random test for all employees.
Start a “SAY NO TO DRUGS” campaign across all schools and provide literature that shows the effects of drug use.
….. examples of the destruction of drug use /abuse ,,, is prevalent in GY ,, it’s so ubiquitous ,, that many middle aged now in the society ,, have no morals and values left to impart hence the tattering of the fabric ,,, education must include ,, the reality of how drugs destroy lives ,, and that is so evident that ,, i hardly think ,, there is anyone who is over six years old ,,in GY ,, who is not aware of the effects ,,, so now is the time to “show and tell” ,,,
no he didn’t
Yes Sr Fulano de Tal, I did, and ment it. If my kids does that I’d refer to same treatment….
Read the Obituary by Sandman to a fallen comrade. about the mixing/spoiling..
Arnold (& those who think like he does) did any of you ever give a thought about the amount of LEADERS of our world who took a puff of weed while in school!?!?!?! If so then according to Arnold, quite a few of them would have been imprisoned. Weed is a plant created by JAH, not man. It has no additives, etc. & YES ANYTHING ABUSED (AB-USED) CAN BE POTENTIALLY HARMFUL but we do not make them illegal. How many people have died from stabbing with kitchen knives, will we make them illegal in the home??? How many people have died as a result of being hit by cars, will we make cars illegal???
Arnold holds extreme views on some things. I see people were quick to praise him for being good to his wife and family. They just took his word for it.
Yes Sr Fulano, remember it is in school, not university where you have command of your use of reason. At that age I think that after trying the weed, would try something more harder then lost in oblivion,what will they make, are kids. New Opportunity Corps! MAZARUNI.
Sr/Sra Defarge, I did it my way, but how wife and family reached here!!