Let experts dissect drug woes in schools

THE time has come for the government in particular the Education Ministry to seriously consider setting up a national-level special committee to investigate drug-related problems faced by schools.

This comes after the shocking revelation by the National Anti-Drug Agency recently which identified 2,000 schools nationwide as being at high risk of student involvement with drugs.

According to the agency’s (prevention) director, Abdul Rahman Hamid, students at 400 of the schools (mostly secondary) were involved with drugs and the students were mostly males aged between 14 and 16 years. The revelation cannot be treated lightly. The ministry also had earlier reminded management of schools not to cover up problems related to drug abuse among pupils.

If there are school administrators keeping the matter under wraps, we won’t be able to find out the exact scale of the problem.

In order for us to fully understand the growing problem, it would be much better and appropriate if a special committee can be set up to analyse the problem in detail, identifying the scale of the problem, examine the contributing factors, and produce concrete and feasible solutions.

The call to set up the special committee is very important as the committee will comprise people who are experts and who can fully comprehend the situation and produce practical long-term solutions.

The committee would also be able to examine in detail all the rules, policies and procedures relating to our education system and analyse whether or not they are still suitable and relevant.

Dr Muzaffar Syah Mallow Senior Lecturer Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia