By Sidhima Choudhary
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) signed an MoU to promote drug-free schools and raise awareness on substance abuse on Wednesday. The pact was signed at the CBSE headquarters in New Delhi, aiming to make schools free of drugs by raising awareness and holding workshops.
The pact was signed by CBSE’s chairperson, Rahul Singh and Director General of NCB, Anurag Garg. The pact included a framework to ensure the efforts met the requirements. A pilot project is scheduled to start in 100 CBSE schools along with a hub-and-spoke model with one central person disseminating information to everyone else, in order to get larger results.
The pact is expected to include an awareness drive for students, community outreach for better understanding of the problems related to drugs, teacher and counsellor training, e-modules and counselling to restrain substance abuse among students.
During the pact-gathering, Anurag Garg mentioned the important role of schools in making a drug-free environment while highlighting the efforts needed to be put by the society apart from schools. “Anti-drug efforts cannot be just left to the schools. It is just a part of the solution,” he added.
Whereas, Rahul Singh stressed the responsibility of CBSE board to keep the students safe. He said, “The board is equipped with resources and information and hence prepared to keep the students safe. Prevention is a practice, rather than a policy.”
CBSE Secretary Himanshu Gupta mentioned the need to make schools a safe and secure place. He talked about the Tele-MANAS, a government mental health support initiative, and stressed on an on time action with prevention.
The gathering welcomed more than 500 principals, counsellors and CBSE wellness teachers. It also preceded the Chairman of Food Corporation of India and Managing Director, Ashutosh Agnitori who briefly talked about leadership in schools.
Overall, the MoU stresses the schools to not just focus on teaching about a drug-free environment but rather wants the classrooms to be an active hub for drug-prevention initiatives where the students, parents and teachers are working together for a brighter cause.