Programme Director, Mr N Mnisi;
Deputy Director-General in the Gauteng Education Department, Mr Vuyani Mpofu;
Chief of Education and Adolescent Development at the United Nations
Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Ms Nadi Albino;
Senior officials from the Department of Basic Education and Gauteng
Department of Education;
Senior officials from the South African Police Services (SAPS):
Community Policing Forum (CPF) and Local Drug Action Committee;
Representatives from Soul City and SANCA;
School Principal, Mrs Susan Vilakazi;
Chairperson and members of the School Governing Body;
Educators,parents and learners;
Ladies and gentlemen;
Good morning.
It is a great pleasure to be standing here today at PT Xulu Secondary School in Vosloorus, Ekurhuleni, Gauteng Province, to address you on this Department of Basic Education Commemoration of the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking for 2013. When we speak about illicit trafficking we mean the illegal trade of tobacco, alcohol and other drugs.
This day is commemorated annually on the 26 June by the United Nation office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and its member states to recognise the impact that alcohol and drug abuse is having on our communities and the many lives lost along the way.
Today as we gather here, we join people from around the world to say enough-is-enough! We demand healthy communities without the abuse of alcohol and drugs.
Programme Director, our schools are significantly affected by alcohol and drug abuse. Research tells us that there is high level of alcohol use amongst grades 8-11 learners. Forty nine percent (49%) of our learners have drunk at least one drink of alcohol in their lifetime; while 35% have used alcohol during the past month.
What is worrying is that 29% of our learners are binge drinking on a monthly basis. This means that they drink 5 or more drinks in one sitting. This is of concern to the education system, as evidence also tells us that when learners drink to this extent, they are more likely to perform poorly in class, to be absent from school and to drop-out from school.
Alcohol, tobacco and other potent illegal drugs such as nyaope, woonga and sugars are easily accessible in schools, despite all schools being declared alcohol and drug free zones. Research again tells us that 13% of our learners use alcohol at school; 8% attend school after drinking; 8% use dagga (marijuana at school); and 9% are offered, sold or given illegal drugs at school.
This is not only disrupting teaching and learning, but is posing a significant safety concern in schools. Alcohol and drug use are primary risk factors for many of the social ills faced in schools including crime and violence, accidents and injuries and unprotected sex leading to unwanted pregnancy and HIV infection. If we look back at the major incidents of violence in schools, inevitably they can be traced back to alcohol and drug abuse.
As a result of the unabated use of alcohol and drugs by our young people, more and more of them are entering drug treatment facilities, some as young as 12 and 13 years. There can be no doubt that this affects their chances of progressing with learning, and increases the possibility of dropping out of school.
We have seen the impact of alcohol and drug use in communities like Eldorado Park and the sheer desperation of parents to rescue their children from this scourge. When the culture of alcohol and drug use is pervasive and accepted as normal in a community, it is inevitable that children will adopt this behaviour too.
And so the President responded to the desperate plea for help in that community to implement a comprehensive programme of action. If we want our schools to be alcohol and drug free, ladies and gentlemen, the work must begin in our communities.
And so over the course of May and June this year, the Department of Basic Education has been working with the provincial Departments of Education and their respective districts and schools across the country to commemorate the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. This year’s event focuses on highlighting the negative impact of alcohol and drugs on educational outcomes.
The theme for the department’s commemoration is Shared Responsibility – Making the Fight against Alcohol and Drug Use in schools a community issue. The President and Minister of Basic Education have repeatedly stated that “Education is a societal issue” and that to build a sound education system, we must all work together.
Barriers to teaching and learning, such as alcohol and drug use are no different. We must begin to see the school as a microcosm of local communities. When crime and violence is rife in communities, it will manifest in schools. When alcohol and drug use is normative in communities, it will disrupt teaching and learning.
And so in order for us to deliver on the right to basic education, we have to begin to seek solutions in partnerships with communities to these societal problems.
The department has developed a new national strategy for the prevention and management of alcohol and drug use amongst learners in schools that offers comprehensive guidance to the education sector on both the prevention and management of alcohol and drug abuse.
The strategy adopts a public health approach and involves interventions to create an enabling environment for policy implementation, prevention interventions, early detection and treatment, care and support.
The thrust of programmes implemented by the department is on the prevention of alcohol and drug use because most children do not use or abuse alcohol or drugs.
However, we must form partnerships with other government departments and non-governmental organisations such as those present here today, to facilitate access to treatment, care and support for learners who become addicted.
We have chosen for this year’s commemoration to focus on implementing activities in schools around the four pillars of the strategy such that we begin to institutionalise the response to alcohol and drug abuse.
And so through the support of the Gauteng Department of Education and other partners such as UNICEF and Soul City, we have been working with PT Xulu Secondary School and 10 surrounding schools in Ekurhuleni South District to build awareness amongst learners, educators and parents on the impact of alcohol and drug use in schools.
The build-up activities involved amongst others, facilitating parent and learner dialogues to provide a safe platform for the community and learners to begin talking about making alcohol and drug use in schools a community issue and how this will be achieved.
I am told that the dialogues were very vibrant with parents making a call that we go back to the concept of ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ and that when we see our neighbour’s child getting involved in dangerous activities, we must be their parent and talk about it. We cannot afford to be quiet anymore. Parents have to begin communicating openly and honestly with their children in their homes about alcohol and drug use.
Learners also spoke openly at how easy it is to access alcohol and drugs at local tuck shops around the school and that drug dealers are passing drugs through the palisade fencing of this school. Sometimes it is hidden in lunch boxes. Alcohol and drug use is also rife at after-exams parties and during community block parties.
The school has search and seizure procedures in place, but this cannot overtake the individual responsibility that learners must bear for their own development and to safeguard their own educational outcomes. This is why we have introduced a Bill of Responsibilities for learners.
Today we will hear the pledge of our learners, our educators and our parents of how they will exercise personal and collective responsibility to make this and other schools alcohol and drug free zones.
On Friday 31 May, on World No Tobacco Day, learners from PT Xulu Secondary School and surrounding schools marched from this school to the local police station to raise awareness about the impact of alcohol and drug abuse on schools.
This was reported as a resounding success and our team shared that they received great support from Vosloorus Police Station, Ekurhuleni Metro Police Services, the School Patrollers and the Community Policing Forum.
We hope to strengthen this relationship with you through our Memorandum of Understanding to ensure that learners are kept safe on their way to and from school; that they are protected at schools; and that search and seizure operations and drug testing in our schools are conducted in a responsible and ethical manner in partnership with you.
School management, School Governing Body members, educators, support staff and school security, your role as the custodians of our learners cannot be over-emphasised in promoting quality basic education and in protecting their health and education outcomes.
This role begins by you being exemplary role models to our learners by leading a healthy lifestyle and in implementing lessons on alcohol and drug use through the life orientation/life skills subject area.
In closing, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to the Gauteng Department of Education for their support for this event. I also want to thank UNICEF for funding the dialogues with parents and learners, and to Soul City for leading the dialogues.
We as the Department of Basic Education and Gauteng Department of Education are grateful to the Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department, the South African Police Services and the Community Policing Forum members, parents and the community for all the support you offered in assisting with the learner march and today’s event.
Mr Nzimande, Chairperson of the School Governing Body, your leadership in putting this event together is an example of the kind of relationship we want to see between schools and SGBs across the country.
To all parents and school community members present here today, you left your family commitments to commemorate this event with us, let it be the beginning of our working together to fight alcohol and drug use in our schools. Let us hold hands and share the responsibility to shape the future of our children by making education a societal issue.
Programme Director, I want to take this opportunity to announce that our work on alcohol and drug use in schools will not end here. We will build on the momentum created by this event to host similar dialogues and community engagements in Eldorado Park to support the President’s initiative in that community and to implement prevention and treatment, care and support initiatives in schools.
We look forward to the ongoing support of our partners present here today to make that initiative a reality.
I thank you.
