Adaptive intervention to drug abuse: Guidance and counselling teachers opine syllabus efficacy
Keywords:
adaptive, drugs, intervention , abuse, guidanceAbstract
This paper examines the efficacy of the Guidance and Counselling (G&C) syllabus in addressing drugs and substance abuse in secondary schools in Zimbabwe. This follows incidents of drugs and substance abuse increasingly becoming common among secondary school learners, now reaching unprecedented levels. Before the foregoing, the Government of Zimbabwe (GoZ) infused topics involving drugs and substance abuse in the school curriculum. Thus, the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education (MoPSE), the responsible ministry, designated G&C to be the main vehicle for spearheading programmes to conscientize the youths on the dangers that befall them if they indulge in taking drugs. Despite the efforts, the prevalence of drug abuse in schools continued to escalate. This scenario begs the question, ‘Is the G&C failing, or has it not yet taken root?’ The approach to empirical research adopted for the current research study was one of a qualitative research design with the data being collected via ‘WhatsApp’ and other social media platforms, an emerging form of doing research. Of the G&C teachers, 15 were purposively selected from secondary schools around the Kwekwe district to seek their opinions on the efficacy of the G&C syllabus. The study established that the syllabus has all that can help to fight drugs and substance abuse. Still, schools have not yet fully institutionalized the practice, demonstrating the disjuncture between policy and practice. The study recommends that G&C teachers and school administrators complement the school’s drug abuse syllabus by incorporating adaptive intervention strategies to annul drugs and substance abuse. In addition, Teachers have to be sufficiently trained to deliver the G&C syllabus so that they can effectively help drug abusers.
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