This archive report was first published on 9 July 2021.
July 9, 2021 - Nairobi, Kenya
Education Cabinet Secretary Prof George Magoha has attributed the increased alcohol and substance abuse among school children to poor parenting. He emphasized the need for parents to take responsibility for their children's actions.
Speaking during the launch of the National Guidelines for Alcohol and Substance use prevention and management in Basic Education Institutions, Magoha said parents should be responsible for their school-going children, even as the Ministry puts in place measures to ensure learning institutions are free from alcohol and substance use.
“A child will not do what you say, a child will do what you do. There is need for parents to accept that they are responsible for what is happening to our children,” said Magoha.
The Guidelines have been developed with the support of the National Authority for the Campaign against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA), to provide a framework on interventions for the prevention of alcohol and substance use in basic education institutions across the country.
A national survey conducted by NACADA in 2017 showed that alcohol is the most abused substance with 12.2 per cent of persons aged 15-65 being active users.
Similar surveys conducted in secondary schools in 2016 and primary schools in 2019 revealed alarming rates of substance abuse among school children, with many students reporting that they get their drugs from shops and kiosks near schools, others from bars as well as from school workers.
