Nationally, 32% kids of classes 8-10 addicted to gateway drugs.
Addiction among school children seems to be emerging as one of the major causes of concern for not only parents but also for schools.
The schools need to look for solutions in a pragmatic manner. Therefore, the role of a teacher has undergone a change to become a counsellor than just a subject expert and the teacher must be equipped with technology to deal with 21st century students.
These were the views expressed by a host of speakers at the Regional Summit of School Principals held at Anand Niketan School on Friday.
“According to specialists, 10 to 17% students of classes 8 to 10 are addicted to gateway drugs, like alcohol, tobacco, etc, at international level.... In case of India, if children going to schools and on streets are included, the national average goes up to 32%. Of this, one-third is going to get addicted to hardcore drugs and one-third of them will die young,” said Dr VS Ravindran, director-general of the Institute of Counsellor Training Research and Consultancy (ICTRC).
According to Ravindran, schools are the last hope for solving the problem. “The role of a teacher has changed from being a teacher to more of a counsellor. Now, we do not need teachers to teach subjects but to counsel and guide. If the teachers fail to answer the value questions, then teachers will become redundant,” he said.
The speakers also felt that children, apart from substances, were getting addicted to screens. “Technology helps and supports students in education. But they are using it as a toy. The parents also hand over gadgets to children as a vulgar display of wealth without knowing their pros and cons,” said Nashy Chauhan, director of the Anand Niketan Group of Schools. She also said that confession pages on social sites stink of abuses against parents, teachers and children talk about nothing but sex. “As a result, children are not losing respect from grown-ups but also of each other,” said Chauhan.
The children are using social media as coping mechanism and not to get information that is why it can be called addiction, said Ravindran, adding that he was not against the use of technology for good purpose.
Similarly, Sunita Gupta Konwar, professor of business and technology at Pearl Academy, asked teachers to win the confidence of students. She also favoured the use of technology and activity-based learning to engage students.
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