Region E’s 1 100-strong Community Works Programme (CWP) members are struggling to resolve the scourge of the drug, nyaope, impacting Alex’s youths.
With this year’s matric examinations just starting and the year-end examinations for other grades about to start, not all children who registered at the beginning of the year will write the examinations. Many bright minds will have succumbed to this drug, said to be highly addictive. This problem is aggravated by teenage pregnancy, another challenge which CWP’s Portia Sachane said derived from children failing to spend more time in the boardroom (read classroom) than in the bedroom.
Recently, the provincial and national departments of education decried the impact of drugs and teenage pregnancy as twin evils affecting the future of the country.
Sachane, who manages the programme, said the two challenges required a collective effort, starting in the home where parents should develop an interest in their children’s development, education and welfare. She said the CWP included supporting members’ children in early childhood development to ease the burden of paying for the services at private crèches.
Sachane added that this helped the members bond with their children and to follow their educational progress. “We encourage them to engage daily with their children by assessing their school work so that they can detect any distraction in their learning,” she said.
“Despite these interventions, messages on anti-drugs and abstaining from early sex awareness still appear not to have the desired effect, with many Alex children falling victim to the two scourges.”
Sachane also urged organisations such as the South African National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependance to lead in tackling this challenge.
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