Durban — A Phoenix school principal has warned parents to look out for signs that their children could be experimenting with drugs and alcohol outside the school premises.
The principal, who did not want to be named, raised concern after a video showed a girl wearing a Palmview Secondary School uniform lying on the floor frothing from the mouth.
The video went viral on social media, despite the incident taking place on September 2 in Phoenix.
The girl appears to be coughing up blood. Her mouth filled with saliva and her eyes rolled back. A source said the girl did not attend school that day.
A source said the school received a call from a concerned community member at 1pm that there was a pupil from the school who had passed out about 400m-500m from the school on an adjourning road.
The principal, educators, and School Governing Body responded immediately. When they arrived they found Phoenix police on the scene. The parents were contacted and paramedics. The principal said the parents then sought medical attention for the child.
The principal advised parents and guardians to speak to their children about the dangers of experimenting with alcohol or drugs because pupils are falling victim to this; and due to their young age, they are easily manipulated.
“Parents/guardians need to look out for signs. One of the main signs is deterioration of a pupil’s performance and interest in school, neglect of homework and a drop in attendance,” the principal said.
The Department of Education’s (DOE) national strategy was to develop and provide comprehensive guidance to the basic education sector in South Africa with regard to the prevention and management of alcohol and drugs in schools.
In 2013, Director-General Bobby Soobrayan said the strategy was developed in line with the Education Delivery Agreement aimed at improving the quality of basic education, as well as Schooling in 2025 and Action Plan to 2014, whose major goals are improvement in learning outcomes and improved access to, and retention in, schooling.
Furthermore, the main goals of the strategy are to retain learners in school and to create a safe learning environment that contributes towards quality education.
Objectives include ensuring that schools are alcohol and drug-free zones, increasing knowledge, life skills and confidence among learners so that they are less likely to engage in problematic alcohol and drug use, and managing alcohol and drug-use-related problems among learners to enhance learning outcomes and learner retention.
The National Strategy for the Prevention and Management of Alcohol and Drug Use among Learners in Schools focuses on these four pillars: enabling environment; primary prevention; early detection and treatment; and care and support.
eThekwini District chairperson and KZN provincial treasurer for the South African Police Board, Aidan David, said that there is no law for drug dens, but mentioned cannabis stores.
David said, “Cannabis stores are legal entities that involve legally obtained documentation. The fear is that they use it as a front/cover to deal in hardcore drugs because there’s no regulation.”
David said the sweets that are sold are bathed in cannabis oil and this is where the challenge lies.
“This needs monitoring. I also haven’t seen an age restriction for entry into a cannabis store similar to a liquor store, therefore there’s no regulation.”
David said schoolchildren are becoming agents for drug dealers; the CPF is doing a good job to stop dealers, so they use children to facilitate their drug sales.
“As long as there’s such bad business practice, we’ll never win the fight against drugs. We need the by-laws to be enforced,” David said.
David said he has never seen police visit or do raids on cannabis stores, and that they need to increase raids.
International Society for Substance Use Professionals (ISSUP SA) chairperson of the South African Chapter, David Bayever, said that there is a big issue in schools.
“The issue is very ripe because of pupils who are given sweets and cookies that contain cannabis. Among the youth, the issue is that they have an enquiring mind and also the fact that it’s readily available at schools -- either trafficked by other pupils or vendors who operate outside school grounds -- they target youth as they have disposable income/tuckshop money,” Bayever said.
Bayever said that due to lack of information, it’s difficult to make pupils aware of taking unknown substances or it could be a result of the pupil having an underlying problem, e.g. they might be traumatised from a specific event or they could have been abused. Bayever said they live this and then don’t know where to turn for help.
There are three aspects we have to deal with:
- The person – Whether they have been stigmatised or abused and they don’t know where to get help.
- The drugs – the available substances and how easily it is to acquire.
- The environment they are coming from–They might come from a home where there was abuse or instability. The parents could be smoking or drinking in front of them.
Bayever also spoke on gangsterism in particular areas and that if one doesn’t join the gang, their life is in jeopardy.
Bayever suggested there was a possibility that the girl could have reacted negatively to legal medication and he emphasised this fact so that it doesn’t paint the perception that the school involved was negligent.
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