The City Anti-Drug Abuse Council (Cadac) called on private schools to utilize the drug education modules for grades 4–12 after observing that no one implemented the program since its launch last year.
“During the Cadac drug modules first year evaluation, we observed that it was not implemented in the private schools particularly because they have the autonomy on crafting their curricula,” Cadac program director Ronaldo Rivera told TIMES.
The Cadac module is mandated in all public and private schools in the city as part of the campaign to prevent and control drug abuse in the city.
“This compelled the Cadac to go to the committee on education (of the City Council) so that the said committee can create a resolution to urge the public schools to use it,” Rivera said.
Rivera noted the module is a landmark program of the city there should be a collaborative action between private and public educational institutions.
“We are the first in the country to have this, which was first implemented in June last year,” he said.
Under the program, the grades 4 to 12 students will undergo 35 competencies with topics on the science of addiction, physiology and pharmacology, co-occuring disorders, treatment and management, community development, and the role of the higher education institutions on the implementation of the Tabangan Atong Refortmists Aron Naay Asenso (Tara Na) and the sustainability of the Community-Based Recovery Support System (CBRAP).
The purpose of the module is to let the youth enrolled in schools, “even as early as grade school, have knowledge on how to address drug issues.”
As a response on the city’s legislative body, Councilor Pilar Braga, chair of the committee on education, urged private schools in the city to attend the orientation on the utilization the Cadac Drug Education Modules: Grade 4 to 12, and the Orientation of City Ordinance No. 0506-13 entitled “Drug Free Workplace Program” on March 27 at the Councilor’s Lounge of the Sangguniang Panlungsod building.
