General Education Minister V. Sivankutty has exhorted citizens to be part of the campaign against the social evil of drug abuse.
Addressing a meeting of the Jan Jagratha samithi (People’s Vigilance Committee) at Nemom here on Thursday, he said children and youth were the primary target of the drug mafia and urged all sections of society to come forward to support the school-level campaign against drug abuse.
Mr. Sivankutty said the General Education department was gearing up to launch several programmes from the start of the fresh academic year on June 3. “The most important programme is the campaign to create awareness about the evil posed by substance abuse. A meeting convened by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan earlier this month had decided to launch an intense campaign against drug abuse among students,” he said.
The Minister said the department would provide support to empower students and create awareness about the menace posed by drugs, besides encouraging them to lead a healthy lifestyle. The campaign would target students of primary, high school, and higher secondary classes. “The detailed guidelines for the campaign have been provided to all schools and teachers are being trained to prevent students from falling prey to drugs”.
Mr. Sivankutty added that parents’ groups would also be constituted to keep a constant vigil on school campuses and prevent drug peddling.
