School quiz ends Drug Awareness Week
Today marks the end of the programme for Drug Awareness Week and this morning students from each district participated in a drug education quiz. The subject matter is real and so is the competition. According to Belize District Co-ordinator Karen Bodden, the children prepare months in advance and are eager to put the information they learn to good use.
Karen Bodden, District Co-ordinator, NDACC
“It is also a highlight in that it allows us to disseminate quite a lot of information via the schools as far as drug education is concerned.”
Janelle Chanona
“Is the message getting through or are the children simply memorising the answers?”
Karen Bodden
“Actually I believe from working in the schools, that the message is getting out there because children will be advising each other in your presence and so you know they not only memorise, but they understand what the message is all about. And like any other aspect of education, it takes time for you to actually be able to measure exactly how much learning has taken place. but from what we have seen happening in schools, we’d would like to see more of it being done but we know that we are making progress.”
“When it comes to drug use, there are many factors which influence drug use. And in addition to all drug education programmes, we have now highlighted the need for parental education, we have highlighted the need for community education. Because we believed that before we can see any decreased in our statistics, that we must get more people involved, and getting them involved by arming them with the accurate information as it relates to drug use and abuse.”
The winner for this year’s drug education quiz was Annie Wu of Sacred Heart Primary School in San Ignacio. Her grand prize included a trophy, a four-year scholarship for high school from the Ministry of Education, and a computer for her school. Runners-up in the competition were Kazilee Mangar from Little Flower RC School in the Toledo District and Alecci Rosado of San Jose Succotz, Cayo District.
