GOOD MOVE BY HIGH SCHOOLS
THE recently-held High Schools Debate Challenge (HiDC) workshop on anti-drug and substance abuse is welcome.
It comes weeks after Pastor Charles Charamba challenged education chiefs to include antidrug and substance abuse in the new learning curriculum.
The workshop, which was held in Chinhoyi last week, attracted 28 schools.
Students said they left the Indaba equipped with the right information about how to tackle drug and substance abuse.
The drugs challenge is now out of hand and there is a need for all of us to put their hands together in our bid to tackle this monster.
We can only win this war once we unite and deal with this monster as a family.
Reports of children, as young as 13, taking drugs are quite shocking.
Renowned medical practitioner, Dr Johannes Marisa, once revealed that some primary school pupils were taking drugs and this was a signal for all of us to take action to try and deal with this menace.
We hope that HiDC, which tackled issues related to drug abuse, dangers of early marriage and child rape, started a process which will help us deal with this monster.
With resources permitting, such programmes should be done on a regular basis and should also be taken across the country to ensure that no one is left behind.
What makes it important is that it is being spearheaded by school heads who are determined to save lives.
We can’t afford to let brilliant minds succumb to drug abuse when such cases can be easily handled.
After the successful workshop in Chinhoyi last week, it is quite pleasing that the people behind HiDC have decided to take it countrywide.
We are now urging various stakeholders to come on board and make it a huge success.
The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, which blessed the initiative, must take full responsibility for the programme.
It’s their baby and they must look after it and ensure that it bears the desired fruits.
Every one of us has to play his or her part to ensure that this noble programme succeeds.
The same reaction we took when HIV and Aids were detected in Zimbabwe must be taken against drug and substance abuse.
This problem affects both the poor and the rich.
As such, we can’t afford to fold our hands and pretend as if we are not victims of drug and substance abuse.
The police should also play their part and arrest the drug dealers who are the real culprits in this story.
These are dangerous people who value profits ahead of the health of the nation and do not even care if young men and women, who are in primary school, end up being affected by drugs.
It’s quite pleasing that school heads have seen the value of tackling this issue.
Pupils in early grades such as ECD B and A classes should be empowered with this vital information.
We can only win this war if we support the initiative taken by the school heads to tackle the monster.