KOCHI: ‘Kuttippattalam’, the school club of St Augustine’s HS, Kaloor, the last year’s state award winners for the best anti-drug club, has set a goal for themselves - Save the youngsters in the state from the clutches of narcotic substances.
The club, under the guidance of Ralphy N T, a teacher at the school, has been educating students all over Kerala for over four years about drug abuse and their consequences. The club has assigned student representatives to impart knowledge on drug abuse to a small group of students. These students then pass on the information to their classmates as well as their parents.
The club has also launched various other initiatives associated with its fight against drug addiction. One of the initiative is ‘Nava Unarvu’, a bi-monthly magazine comprising articles, poems and articles by students, faculty members and other prominent personalities. “Youngsters are the future of the country. Hence, it is important to inculcate good values in them,” says Ralphy N T, convener of the club.
The magazine, which is circulated among a large number of schools in Kerala, is also available at selected libraries and offices for the public. Besides this, the club has also distributed short film, ‘Charubenchu’, name slips, timetable charts, stickers and CD’S in different schools in nearly all districts including Ernakulam and Alappuzha.
The club has managed to spread their ideas and knowledge about the bad influence of drugs in over 308 schools in Ernakulam, Alappuzha and Kottayam districts. “Neglect from family and peer pressure are the main reasons which force a student to get experiment with drugs. Through our seminars we try to guide the students to develop an aversion to these substances,” adds Ralphy. Though the club was launched at St Augustine’s school with around eighty members, it now has many sub branches in other schools. The endeavour also won Ralphy T N, the mastermind behind the idea, this year’s state award for spreading awareness among students about drug abuse from the Excise Department.
These youngsters are on a mission to bring a change in the society and are planning many other projects which will be launched soon.