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-sharp 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."

Popular

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.

The biggest challenge facing principals was that pupils guilty of
substance abuse at school, under the new Education Laws Amendment Act,
could not be charged for the offence, said SA Principals' Association
KZN Chatsworth chairman Sundran Subramoney.

"The other problem is parents are not prepared to accept the truth and
blame everyone else - often the school - for their children's wrongdoing.

"This gives the pupil the opportunity to carry on, knowing his or her
parents will defend their behaviour.

"Pupils under the influence of substance abuse pose a great threat to
the educators and other pupils. They exhibit arrogance and disrespect
for teachers and school authorities."

Drug testing at schools would help, said Subramoney, but the logistics
involved had yet to be worked out.

"What happens to a pupil who tests positive is not clear. Without a
directive from the department, schools have been using codes of
conduct to deal with such matters. The main purpose of drug testing is
to dissuade people from using these substances," said Subramoney.

Education was a school's core business and it had to improve values,
attitudes and behaviour in pupils through life orientation. "However,
they cannot change behaviour children have learnt in their formative
years.

"Parents play a huge role in a child's life in their formative years.
The values, attitudes, behaviour patterns and so on reflect
upbringing. The immediate home and family, and the broader community
in which they live, influence their lives," said Subramoney.

Parents Association of KwaZulu-Natal's Sayed Rajack also felt it was
the parents' responsibility to ensure their children were not using
drugs but said schools had to provide assistance.

"Teachers are 'foster parents' when children are in their care. We
welcome the decision to test pupils for drugs because it is time they
got the message. Drug testing will serve as a deterrent.

"Pupils don't understand that they are destroying their own lives.
They end up dead or marred for life and schools need to help rid our
communities of the scourge of drugs," said Rajack.

The Anti-Drug Forum at a Chatsworth-based clinic that rehabilitates
addicts said a similar service should be available throughout the province.

Forum chairman Sam Pillay said, "It is important to rehabilitate
pupils found guilty of using drugs rather than kick them out of
school. Drug testing at schools will work if done by people who know
what they are doing.

"Pupils abusing drugs will try every trick in the book to avoid being
caught out. They will manipulate the results if not watched carefully.
In some instances, boys have hidden popsicles or water containers in
their pants to dilute their urine," said Pillay.