Dow wages war against drug use in schools

The Minister of Basic Education, Unity Dow says that rampant indiscipline and drug abuse contribute to students’ declining academic results.

Despite the slight improvement of 0.92 percent in 2016 Botswana General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE) results, Dow maintains that students could perform better if they pull up their socks.

“As much as teachers and parents should also assist them, students should take it upon their shoulders to work hard for their own bright future,” she said. Speaking in an interview with The Midweek Sun Dow said that everyone should wage war against drug use and abuse. She said students should realise that dabbling in drugs could adversely affect their health and future, pointing out that drug use makes the learning environment hostile and interferes with the learning process.

“The drugs situation is getting out of control and if we don’t address the matter immediately, we will be forced to spend a fortune on rehabilitation centres a few years down the line. We must take responsibility to groom young people,” she said.

Dow added that it was imperative to develop stronger leadership in learning institutions. “Stronger leadership either makes or breaks, therefore it somehow determines the progress in schools,” she said. The minister was however optimistic that the slight improvement in the current BGCSE results is due to government’s massive efforts to train teachers. She said that 3000 teachers have been trained through the programme, which was started three years ago.  Dow also congratulated St Joseph’s College for their excellent results and coming out tops among all schools in the country and encouraged Shoshong Senior School, which is at the bottom once again to work harder.

Meanwhile, during a Teaching Symposium conducted by The Broadcasters Organisation on Monday in Gaborone, stakeholders conceded that alcohol, drugs and indiscipline were a contributory factor to poor academic performance.  Speaking at a panel of discussion that explored the factors for declining academic results, pastor Tsholofelo Palai, who is also a member of Botswana National Youth Council (BNYC) admitted that drugs are slowly playing a major impact in students’ welfare. He said that there could also be moral issues that are hardly noticed by children’s leaders to draw them into the right path. 

“If these problems could be identified and be addressed by the entire community, rather than leaving the whole task to the guidance and counselling teachers, results could somehow improve hence students would have sufficient monitoring from both their guardians and teachers,” he said.Mogoditshane Primary School head teacher Samuel Setuke concurred that drugs are becoming a huge problem in schools. “We are a primary school but we have experienced cases of drug use. It is a pity that young people are already exposed to drugs at such an early age,” he said.

Assistant Dean Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research at Botho University, Dr Norman Rhudhumbu, advised that child rearing and academics should be a collective responsibility shared by teachers, guardians and community members. He said that individuals who sell drugs to students should be brought to book through the intervention of the police, as they destroy the learners’ future. Rhudhumbu said that life skills are critical. “There are no life skills imparted to learners and this could be one of the reasons that some of them are easily lured into using drugs,” he said.