Kohima: The Department of School Education in Nagaland has directed all middle, high, and higher secondary schools — government and private — to set up ‘Prahari Clubs’ to strengthen efforts on prevention of drugs and substance abuse among school children.
The clubs will be established in line with guidelines outlined under Section 6 of the joint action plan developed by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Government of India.
The department, in a notification, said the clubs may be constituted with a total of 20-25 students from classes 6 to 12 under the supervision and guidance of a responsible teacher in charge, who is a person of integrity.
The clubs are tasked with conducting two awareness activities annually, which will be integrated into existing programs by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Apart from awareness generation, the areas of focus of the clubs will be to sensitize their members to be vigilant on children taking drugs and substances or if they are being used for trafficking drugs and substances.
They have been asked to be vigilant of any suspected activities regarding the use and sale of drugs and substances in and around the school premises.
The members of the clubs will share any information they get regarding activities or suspected activities related to drugs/substance abuse with the teacher in charge, who will share it with the school head for appropriate action.
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To support this initiative, school heads have been instructed to download the joint action plan on drug prevention and illicit trafficking from the department’s educational services portal.
