Easy availability of intoxicants to school students a growing concern in Coimbatore

'Teachers have caught students taking such products into exam halls'

A growing concern among teachers in Coimbatore city seems to be the easy availability of intoxicants to school students that get them addicted at an early age and end up marring their academics along with their health.

T. Arulanandam, district president of Tamil Nadu High Higher Secondary School Graduate Teachers Association, said that the use of a particular intoxicant in which tobacco was mixed with spices and sold in small pouches particularly increased in the past year among students in government, government-aided and Corporation schools. “Both boys and girls use this,” he claimed.

He recalled an incident when he was the chief superintendent officer at a Corporation Girls School during the public examinations where the school authorities found empty packets of the tobacco-based intoxicant inside the toilets. “The usage starts in Class VII or Class VIII,” he said. One of the reasons for its notoriety was its inconspicuousness.

There would be no visible difference in behaviour due to its mild intoxication. Some teachers had caught students taking this intoxicant into exam halls, Mr. Arulanandam said. Another reason was its easy availability around the schools, with petty shops outside schools selling it, he said.

N. Lakshmanan, a clinical psychologist who runs a counselling centre, said students were also addicted to fumes from paint thinners and whiteners, which were not generally perceived as intoxicants.

“While alcohol and cigarettes affect the digestive system and lungs respectively, these intoxicants directly affect the central nervous system,” he said, adding that use of such intoxicants at an early age was diagnosed as ‘conduct disorder’. A characteristic among these victims of addiction was that they came from dysfunctional families where parents were either abusive or alcoholic, Mr. Lakshmanan said. With the addiction beginning in the teenage for many victims, they were generally advised to enrol in de-addiction centres. “Many do not seek professional help till the addiction becomes severe,” he added.

Education, food safety officials to act

When contacted, P. Ayyanan, Chief Education Officer, who took charge on November 8, said that he was aware of the issue during his previous tenure (December 2017 to March 2019) in the city. “During one of the review meetings, when I asked teachers the reason behind the dip in performance of students, they told me about this,” he said.

Mr. Ayyanan added that he would convene a meeting of headmasters of all government and government-aided schools to check the current situation. The issue would be taken to the notice of District Collector K. Rajamani for further action, he said.

As there was only one school counsellor for the entire district for government and government-aided schools at present, Mr. Ayyanan said that more counsellors would be appointed to help students recover from such addictions.

K. Tamilselvan, Designated Officer, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) Coimbatore, said a special drive would commence in the city soon, where five teams of food safety officials would check for sale of tobacco products near schools. “If any shop is found selling tobacco products to minors, notice will be served on the spot and the licence will be suspended,” he said.

Mr. Tamilselvan also said that teachers could inform the FSSAI on the helpline number 94440 42322 about such sale.