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KUCHING: The Sarawak government has established a One Stop Committee (OSC) at every district education office as part of its efforts to address drug abuse and distribution cases in schools across the state.
Sarawak Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Assistant Minister Datuk Francis Harden Hollis said that under the committee, a special officer for drug prevention was placed at each district education office.
“They will be responsible in coordinating drug prevention education programmes in their respective schools.
“For the record, the secondary schools in Sarawak are also conducting urine tests to identify students who are involved in drug abuse,” he said at an oral question-and-answer session at the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly sitting here today.
He said this in his reply to the question from Datuk Idris Buang (GPS - Muara Tuang) who wanted to know the effectiveness of the programmes carried out by the ministry in addressing the problem of drug abuse in schools.
According to a report issued by the Sarawak Education Department, as of October this year, there was a drop in the number of students tested positive for drugs, compared to last year, he said
“This year, 3,649 students from 182 secondary schools in the state underwent the test and of the total, 274 students tested positive for drugs, compared to last year where a total of 2,967 students from 160 secondary schools tested, and of the total, 301 of them were found to be positive of drugs.
“This situation indicates that the ongoing intervention efforts have begun to produce results. A total of 56 drug peddlers who were found to be distributing drugs to students were also detained under the Dangerous Drugs (Special Preventive Measures) Act 1985,” she said. — Bernama
