Drugs in Schools: A Shared Challenge for Parents and Authorities

Why parental fear and inadequate institutional strategies are failing the next generation

By Sada Reddi

An air of pessimism hangs over most conversations today, often centred on widespread discontent, alienation, and distrust. Is this gloom a result of the daily tragedies we face — a weekly murder or dislocation, a stabbing on the street or at home, a woman murdered in cold blood by her husband, or a student committing suicide? Has the country simply become a land of endless sleaze?

“It is important to highlight that peer pressure, bullying, and school violence are closely linked to drug-taking. However, there is nothing inherently wrong with peer groups. All students belong to groups for socialisation, friendship, and common leisure activities. These groups help young people get along with others, develop different perspectives and communication skills, and forge their own identity. These are the positive benefits of peer groups…”

The answer may be all of this.

When I met a friend recently at a social occasion, our conversation alternated between anxiety and fear. While trying to decide which school to admit her child to for Grade Seven, she revealed that education was less important in her choice of a college than the kind of discipline and moral training the school could provide to protect her child from substance abuse. According to her, most, if not all, secondary schools have a drug problem, though the extent of the spread may vary. While this may be an exaggeration, it is the genuine perception of many educators and parents. She was agonized, trying to decide which school in her zone had the least problem, and she was undecided on a conclusion. A similar panic has gripped many parents; like sheep, they run in different directions seeking solutions, but unfortunately, the authorities and school managers are not good shepherds.

When a man joined our conversation, he somewhat confirmed the parents’ fear and suggested a number of platitudes — that parents should take better control of their children, establish productive communication at home, detect early signs of behavioural changes, and resort to counselling if problems seem intractable. All these suggestions were good advice — the kind one usually finds in self-help books or regularly dished out on the internet. What is often overlooked is that such advice demands significant parenting skills, which most parents lack or find difficult to acquire unless training facilities are made available by the authorities or even by employers.

The man who advised us was a retired policeman who, in addition to his advice, threw some light on drug marketing in schools. He provided us with specific strategies used by drug traffickers, which he said were well known to police officers and some school managers, and which must also be made known to parents so they can develop their own counter-strategies. Typically, a few students in upper forms are selected to become drug peddlers; they are provided with advice on how to approach students and are given a large amount of money — far more than they could ever dream of getting as pocket money.

Peer Pressure and the Drug Trap

It is important to highlight that peer pressure, bullying, and school violence are closely linked to drug-taking. However, there is nothing inherently wrong with peer groups. All students belong to groups for socialisation, friendship, and common leisure activities. These groups help young people get along with others, develop different perspectives and communication skills, and forge their own identity. These are the positive benefits of peer groups.

We should not rule out that there can also be a negative influence that leads students to risky behaviour such as drinking and substance abuse. They fall into the trap simply because they want to feel accepted or valued within the group. It requires good self-esteem and confidence to refuse to go with the flow.

In cases of substance abuse in schools, peer groups can be instrumentalised. Groups of children are identified by drug traffickers, and one of the group members — usually the one who leads and has some influence on others — is targeted and coaxed to taste a drug for free. He is then encouraged to share it with other members of the group. Peer pressure comes into play, and the one who resists is blackmailed or bullied into compliance. From one group, the problem can spread to other groups within the school and across schools.

The Authorities’ Dilemma

Police often find it helpless to deal with school cases when informed by school management. Students are minors; at most, the police can inform parents, take a statement, and leave it to school management to offer counselling. Parents who are informed of a sickness allegedly resulting from drug-taking will often refute any allegation to protect their child from stigmatisation, and whether they can find durable solutions remains unknown.

Teachers are cautious about reporting on pupils for fear of being targeted by parents or drug dealers. They avoid searching school bags in suspicious cases lest students falsely report a loss and level charges of robbery. All educators can do is report to school management, which may or may not inform the Ministry of Education.

In such a situation, parents must take full responsibility for their children. It may be very hard to do so given the pressure of work, but they have no choice if they want their children to grow up healthily in a safe school environment. When everyone calls for a balanced family life, an important component is for families to devote time to children and close monitoring and supervision of their children. But this is easier said than done.

Parental supervision will require parents to follow their children from childhood through adolescence to adulthood. Supervision will vary with the age of the children as they grow up. An important component of supervision is to establish close relationships with children, learn about their friends, and communicate daily about school activities. There is a need to keep acquiring knowledge as the children grow. It is best to create the type of home environment where children feel comfortable to self-disclose their activities and their group of friends. This is important to pre-empt any problem that might crop up and can be dealt with, especially as adolescents grow up to become more independent and have more discretion over how to use their time.

Digital Supervision

With most young people owning a mobile phone, problems have become more complicated, and children face numerous risks, including cyberbullying. Once again, parents have to reach some agreement about supervision of digital communication while respecting their children’s need for privacy.

The authorities should help parents confront such problems by running programmes on public television so that the maximum number of parents can be sensitized about risks and solutions. One can only suggest that parents must talk to children about what they see on the screen, discuss and agree on clear rules for the use of mobiles, and set up other security measures that experts can advise on. It is equally important to encourage young people to denounce and report cyberbullying to the authorities.

Mauritius Times ePaper Friday 31 October 2025