Parents and school authorities in Embu County have been urged to launch campaigns to identify students involved in drug abuse to facilitate meaningful initiation of research and professionally informed rehabilitation programmes.
Researchers Milcah Njoki Nyagah and Kimu Mwai from the department of Science at St Patrick Kigari Teachers’ Training College insisted that parents and teachers play a crucial role in helping to detect the tell tales that link learners to narcotics and substance use due to their close interaction at home and in school.
Nyagah and Mwai’s research revealed that abuse of bhang’, muguka and tobacco have been on the increase hence negatively impacting education and the health of pupils and students.
The research findings come at a time when religious and political leaders across Mbeere sub county have persistently lamented over high incidents of school drop out as a result of increase in mental health issues blamed on drug abuse.
Nyagah and Mwai’s research sought to investigate the role of parental monitoring, residence, employment and parenting behavior in predisposing adolescents to drug abuse.
The research further revealed that learners’ access to drugs was being influenced by the environment within which they operated.
“Most parents didn’t seriously consider issues raised by teachers concerning their children’s characters,” said the researchers.
Contrary to the common notion that students not residing with their biological parents were more prone to drug abuse, the research revealed that not residing with biological parents was not significantly associated with drug abuse.
To avoid drug abuse, the scholars suggested strict parental monitoring to all children.
“Most children born after the first child portrayed anti-social behavior implying that younger children are more likely to engage in drug abuse,” revealed the researchers.
Based on the findings, the researchers advised school authorities to organize frequent sessions for parents and educate them on effective ways of parenting adolescents
“Schools needed to create partnerships with parents by providing an open and accommodative environment with their wider community” Nyagah and Mwai said, arguing further that such partnerships will help form cordial working links for the benefit of the learners.
By Robert Nyagah
Get more stories from our website: Education News
You can also follow our social media pages on Twitter: Education News KE and Facebook: Education News Newspaper for timely updates.
