Raising alarm over the growing drug menace among the younger generation, hundreds of students under the banner of the Manipuri Students’ Federation (MSF) today marched to the office of the Board of Secondary Education, Manipur (BOSEM), demanding the immediate introduction of a compulsory drug prevention curriculum in schools.
The students, carrying placards and raising slogans against the government’s alleged inaction, converged at the BOSEM office before meeting the Board’s Secretary. According to the federation, they were left dismayed after learning that no concrete steps had been taken to incorporate drug prevention education into the school syllabus despite repeated representations over the past five years.
Addressing the gathering, MSF president Hijam Roshan launched a scathing attack on the State Government, asking whether it intended “to destroy Manipur by allowing its students and youth to be ruined by drugs.” He said the government owed the people a clear answer on what it was doing to prevent an entire generation from falling prey to narcotic substances.
Roshan said MSF had first submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister on June 28, 2021, urging the government to introduce drug awareness education in schools. A reminder reiterating the demand, along with seven other issues, was again submitted on June 15 this year to the Chief Minister and the departments concerned. Yet, he alleged, no meaningful progress had been made.
At the heart of the federation’s demand is the introduction of Drug Use Prevention Education as a compulsory subject from Class V onwards. MSF has proposed that the Government formulate a dedicated curriculum explaining the devastating physical, psychological and social consequences of drug abuse, publish textbooks on the subject and make drug education an integral part of classroom learning.
According to Roshan, while enforcement agencies continue to seize narcotics and arrest traffickers, drugs continue to enter the state unabated. “Not a single day passes without drugs being smuggled into Manipur,” he alleged, questioning who ultimately consumes the narcotics entering the state. He claimed that the answer increasingly points to students and young people.
Citing the ‘Magnitude of Substance Use in India 2019’ report published by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India, Roshan said the findings reveal the alarming scale of substance use in Manipur.
