West Dem. School Welfare Unit hosts parenting workshop on drug and sexual abuseIt’s no secret that the issues of substance and sexual abuse in our school are on the increase.

Mar 29, 2019 News

---

 

As such, the School Welfare Unit (Ministry of Education, Region 3) just yesterday conducted its ‘Parents Involvement Workshop’ to heighten the involvement of parents, as it attempts to address the issues.
Hosted in the boardroom of the Region 3 Ministry of Education Office, the event was attended by 60 parents selected at random from Parent Teacher Association (PTA) executive bodies from schools on the West Bank and West Coast Demerara.
Facilitator Maylene Foo told this publication yesterday that the workshop was initiated to address the issues of drug abuse and sexual immorality in schools.
She said that coordinators felt that parents should be involved to not only sensitise them on the issue, but also to allow them to develop a hands-on approach to aid in tackling same. Another area that was looked at was the consumption of alcohol by students.
“The use of drugs and sexual abuse has been an issue within our schools which should be addressed with gusto, since it concerns students (our children) and their welfare, which must always be of utmost priority. To date, the cases of drug use (particularly use of the pill ecstasy), and even marijuana in our schools have been greatly disrupting our school system.
“Sex in our schools is another urgent matter that needs strategic attention, thus we felt that by involving parents in the process, we are then able to have a combined approach, since these parents are mothers and fathers of children who may be affected.”
As stated by Foo, another objective behind the venture was to enlighten parents and give them a real life picture of what’s transpiring in the schools today, at the same time educating them, to make them better equipped to deal with situations of where their child/children may become a victim.
Topics dealt with at the workshop included symptoms of drug abuse amongst students, and preventative measures. Participants also looked at reasons that may contribute to sexual offences amongst students in school, preventative aids, and many other matters.
In 2006, the Guyana Drug Information Network was established within the Ministry of Home
Affairs with the assistance of the Inter-American Observatory on Drugs (OID), Inter-American
Drug Control Commission (CICAD)/ Organization of American States (OAS). The purpose of the Network is to facilitate the sharing of drug-related information. As such, a framework was set up to assess the level of drug use among students in schools across the country in Grades 8,10,11 and 12, both in private and public schools.
A stratified random sampling design was employed to conduct of the survey which comprised two phases, viz.: selection of the schools, and selection of the classes within the selected schools to participate in the survey. The team was successful at reaching 28 schools of the 30 selected, which included 19 public schools and 9 private schools. Of this amount 28.1 per cent of the schools were from Georgetown, 14.5 per cent from Region 6, 13.4 per cent from Region 2, 11.8 per cent from Region 4 (leaving out schools located in Georgetown), and 10.7 per cent from Region 3. 43.7 per cent of the respondents were students in the 8th grade (Form 2), 35.7 per cent were in the
10th grade (Form 4) and 20.6 per cent were in the 11th grade (Form5).
The analysis revealed that 59.6 per cent of the respondents were females and 40.3 per cent males. Disaggregation of sample by age group showed that 43.2 per cent of the students were from the 15-16 age range, 41.7 per cent were from the 13-14 age range, 8.5 per cent were 17 or older, 2.1 per cent were from the 11-12 age range, and 4.5 per cent did not indicate their ages.
The one-year incidence rate for cigarette use was reduced from 4.8 per cent in 2007 to 4.1 per cent in 2013. Trend analysis with regard to cigarette use revealed that all prevalence rates for cigarette use declined in 2013 when compared to the 2007 survey.
The lifetime prevalence rate declined from 17.8 per cent in 2007 to 16.8 per cent in 2013. In the current survey, the lifetime prevalence rate for private schools was 23.0 per cent; this is higher than the lifetime prevalence rate for public schools, which returned a rate 16.3 per cent. The average age of first time use of cigarettes increased marginally from 11.5 years in 2007 to 11.7 in 2013.
For alcohol, the one-year incidence rate dropped from 37.7 per cent in 2007 to 27.2 per cent in 2013. Comparative analysis of the 2007 and 2013 survey results revealed that prevalence rates declined for use of alcoholic drinks. The lifetime prevalence rate dipped from 62.0 per cent in 2007 to 52.2 per cent in 2013. In the present survey the male life-time prevalence rate for alcohol use was 57.2 per cent while the female rate was 49.1 per cent.
Further survey results showed 4.9 per cent of the students said they were drunk for 6 to 10 days during the past month and 12.0 per cent said they were drunk for 11 or more days. The average age of first use of alcohol increased marginally from 12.2 years in 2007 to 12.5 years in 2013.
Concerning marijuana, the one-year incidence declined from 4.5 per cent per cent in 2007 to 3.1 per cent in 2013. The data indicate that lifetime prevalence for marijuana was 6.6 per cent in 2013 compared to 11.2 per cent in the 2007. In the current survey, the male lifetime prevalence rate of marijuana was 9.9 per cent and the female rate was 4.5 per cent. The average age of first time use of marijuana declined from 13.3 years in 2007 to 12.8 years in 2013.
Turning to cocaine use, the one-year incidence fell from 2.1 per cent per cent in 2007 to 0.9 per cent in 2013. The current survey statistics showed that 1.4 per cent of the students used cocaine at least once in their lifetime; while annual prevalence rate for cocaine was 1.0 per cent.
Comparatively, in 2007 lifetime prevalence rate was 4.1 per cent and one-year prevalence rate was 2.7 per cent. The male lifetime prevalence rate in the 2013 survey was 2.6 per cent and the female lifetime prevalence rate was 0.6 per cent. The average age of first time use of cocaine declined from 13.0 years in 2007 to 12.1 years in 2013.
Analysing the data to assess the extent and patterns of crack use showed that the one-year incidence rate dropped from 2.2 per cent in 2007 to 1.2 percent in 2013. Current survey data indicated that 1.9 per cent of the students used crack at least once in their lifetime; while annual prevalence rate for crack was 1.0 per cent. Comparatively, in 2007 lifetime prevalence rate was
4.0 per cent and one-year prevalence rate was 2.8 per cent. The male lifetime prevalence rate in the 2013 survey was 3.0 per cent, while the female rate was 1.3 per cent. The average for first time use of crack increased to 14.5 years in 2013from 13.2 in 2007.
Perceptions on the level of access students have to illicit drugs appeared low. Marijuana appeared to be the most accessible illicit drug for secondary school students with 16.3 per cent of them indicating that it would be easy to access.

 

 

---

---