Chandigarh Police under the guidance of Sh. Sanjay Baniwal, IPS, DGP, U.T., Chandigarh in partnership with SPYM, Don Bosco Research Centre, Mumbai and Department of Education, Chandigarh UT is organizing training for teachers of selected schools of Chandigarh from 17th – 22nd September ’18 at Traffic & Security Lines, Sector 29, Chandigarh. The purpose of the training is to orient the Government school teachers to equip them with necessary skills to carry messages of substance use prevention to students along with enabling them to identify early stages of addiction and risky behavior and facilitate students with ways to deal with such situations.
The training programme to be organized in three batches of 2 days each. It will be attended by teachers from around 45 schools of Chandigarh and will be conducted by experts from SPYM and Don Bosco Research Centre, Mumbai.
1st batch of the training was inaugurated by Ms. Nilambari Jagdale, IPS, SSP, Chandigarh UT. In her remarks, she expressed concern about increasing trend of substance use among school children particularly in the age group of 12-18 years. She said that substance use and crime are closely associated and in order to address that, it is important to initiate prevention programs at different levels. She also talked about the steps being taken by Chandigarh Police to address the problem.
Chandigarh Police organizing training for teachers of selected schools
Mr. Manish Kumar, Team Leader, SPYM said that the number of incidents of drug abuse amongst school children is on the rise in comparison to previous years. As per UNODC global Drug Report 2018, more and more teenagers seem to be addicted to alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, heroin, inhalants and injectable substances. Similarly, NCB report indicates that, there is significant increase in Juvenile crime i.e. 143% between 2002-2012 in India. It has also been reported that Peer pressure is the major reason for about 85% of children getting into drugs.
Research indicates that those who get addicted as children tend to continue with the habit into adulthood. This often is the cause of much distress to the individual concerned as well as to their families.
A Nationwide study conducted by NCPCR in partnership with SPYM & AIIMS found that one third of Juvenile substance users in India live at homes and attend schools, suggesting not only children on street are hooked to Alcohol or Narcotics. 71.8% of Indian Children living at home reported to have had alcohol at least once in their lifetime, compared to 53.3% children living on the street.
In order to initiate primary prevention program among school children, it is important to impart life skills education to create resilience amongst adolescence and help address a variety of risks associated with substance use.
Issued by Chandigarh Police
