Mangalore: Teachers, police, administration pledge to fight drug menace together

Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (VM)

Mangalore, Feb 8: In a consolidated effort to root out drug menace in the city, especially in the surroundings of schools and colleges, heads of various educational institutions participated in the anti-drug campaign organized by the Mangalore city police and the district administration at the conference hall, police guest house here on Friday February 8.

Dr Ramila Shekar and Dr Hilda Rayappan of Prajna Counselling Centre were the resource persons.

City police commissioner Manish Karbikar in his address said the campaign had been organized to raise serious concerns over the young generation being increasingly drawn to narcotics. "We have called the principals and teachers of all colleges as regular interaction with parents and teachers is not possible. Feedbacks and interaction with you will help us in tackling the problem," he said.

"It might be a family or social problem which makes youngsters take wrong direction in life," said Dr Ramila Shekar, "It happens not only in youth, but starts with children sniffing an eraser or correction liquid. These days students adopt risk taking behavior and there is no one to guide them properly," she said.

"Lack of attachment between child and parents, peer pressure, inspiration from movies are some of the reasons why students take narcotics. Addiction among parents will also influence their child," she said.

Commenting on ways to prevent drug addiction, Shekar said, "It is not one department that can solve the problem, if we want to fight drug menace we should all join our hands together. It is important to prevent before it becomes a habit. There is a tendency among parents to hide bad things about their children and insist that they are good. This should stop."

She advised teachers and educational institutions to follow a clear no-drug rule in their classes and campuses and appoint professional councilors. "Do not moralize, do not condemn nor tease the drug addicts, instead, lend a helping hand to them," she added.

Professor Hilda Rayappan said she handles at least two cases of drug addiction a week and as per a study, around 73 million people in the country are addicted to drugs. 'I am happy that the citizens have come forward with an open mind to curb this problem now," she said.

"First of all parents should take the initiative to protect their child from narcotics. As per my experience, most of the drug addiction cases occur due to lack of supervision by parents," she said, urging parents to supervise their children and correct them whenever they go wrong.

"The present situation of Mangalore hurts me so much as this was not the condition before. I wish the authorities could bring out solutions to the problems facing the city," she said.

During the interaction, principal of Sharada Vidyalaya College, whose student Sneha was addicted to drugs and committed suicide recently, said that they had no doubt about Sneha’s behavior. "We were not able to identify her as a drug addict and the news reached us only after she was admitted to a de-addiction centre in Bangalore," she said.

She further said a wine shop had been recently opened near the college area which is also close to colleges like Canara, Beasant, Expert and others. "I urge authorities to take action against the wine shop," she said.

Principal of Mahaveer College, Moodbidri asked officials ensure that alcohol, cigarettes and other substances do not go into the hands of students.

Speaking on Sneha as a student of Mahatma Gandhi High School, Bondel, the headmistress of the school said that the school authorities had warned her several times over her misbehaviour, especially when she was once caught with 'supari'. They had also brought it to the attention of her parents, she said.

On her performance in academics, she said the media report of Sneha getting good marks was totally false. "Sneha never crossed 70 % marks in her high school studies," she claimed.

Deputy commissioner N Prakash in his address said the drug network is a complex problem which does not have any one-point solution. Teachers and parents can play a vital role in curbing this menace by taking positive  steps whenever they see any attitude change among children, he said.

"Whenever parents or teachers see change among children, they should work on it and find out the cause. With this we can at least bring certain amount of change," he said. He expressed his gratitude to all the participants present for joining in for a good cause and assured his full support.

K N Vijayprakash, CEO of zilla panchayat, DCP Muthuraya, DCP Dharmaiah, CCB inspector Venkatesh Prasanna among others were present.