The peer educators at Mont Fleuri secondary school are undertaking a project to heighten awareness about drugs.
As the drug issue is rapidly becoming a problem among the youth and the number of youth using drugs is increasing at an alarming rate, through this project students will be educated about its effect and impact.
The theme of the project ‘Drugs is not the key to success’ was unveiled yesterday on a board by the head teacher, Rosemary Violette, and the project manager Kelly-Anne Ah-Kong who is an S5 student and peer educator at the school.
The activity coincided with Children’s Day and the students also took part in various sports as sports forms part of activities used to deter the students from doing drugs.
The morning kicked off with a cross country race, and then there was volleyball, football and an obstacle race. In the afternoon they enjoyed their class party.
The project is being done in collaboration with the Everlasting Love Ministry (ELM) after it held a two-day peer educators training for the students under the theme ‘Mon lavi i presye, mon pei i bezwen mwan’.
Three other schools also took part in the workshop and they are required to come up with a project of their choosing as well. The three schools are Belonie, English River and Pointe Larue.
Ms Ah-Kong said her school is no exception when it comes to this situation, hence the need for 
this campaign.
“The project is to educate our peers about the effect and disadvantages of using drugs because there are many students who are involved in drug transactions on the school compound. It’s alarming but at the same time happening discreetly among a specific group of students,” she said.
She also noted the levels being affected are the S2 to S5 students.
She said the target group is students who have been identified as drug users in the school.
“There have been many occasions where students have been caught using drugs on the school premises and they are usually referred to the National Drug Enforcement Agency (NDEA) but however there is no follow-up with other agencies to see how best to provide support to the students,” she said.
This project which started in the middle of May is expected to end in July.
Source : Seychelles NATION