Catching drug smugglers in slums is tough for police

By Yukta Mudgal

Shortage

of staff is deteriorating the quality of education in government schools of Rural Karnataka. As a result, many students turn to private tuitions to fill the gap.

A report by ASER highlights an increase in the number of private tuition takers. Enrollment in government schools has increased significantly since 2018 ASER 2022 shows an increase in enrollment of students in schools nationwide, despite the pandemic, but it also highlights the basic reading and arithmetic ability have dropped in students.

Aditya Kumar, a resident of Narayanapura village, Sandur taluk, commented on the quality of education his children receive:

“I enrolled my children in tuition because the quality of education has deteriorated in the government schools. In fact, I am planning to shift them to private schools next year.”

Santosh Bajantri, a teacher at a Government Primary High School in Savanur taluk, said: “We have problems... I under- stand that the quality of education is a question mark. However, school staff do everything to improve so children can get better in their studies.”

G.S. Jayadev, founder of Deenabandhu, an award-winning school for rural children in Chamarajanagar said: “Our government schools have the highest unauthorized absence of the teachers. This has the maximum effect on the students and the quality of education they receive. The more we build English-medium government schools, the lesser their mother-tongue language schools will be. This will lead to them not learning their own language or English. The majority of parents wish for their children to learn English, but are unaware of the quality of education they receive. .” yashaswini.s@iijnm.org

Deccan Herald report, stated over 44 per cent of students in the first standard across Karnataka cannot even read an alphabet.The study shows a steep decline in learning in children, even when enrollment numbers in 2012 had fallen marginally.

Drug addiction continues to be an issue in a slum in Hombegowda Nagar as the culprits remain unidentified.

B.S. Ashok, police inspector, Anti-Narcotics Wing, didn’t denied about slum’s drug problem . He said drugs either come from Africa or North India. “During Covid, everyone went to their native places. As Covid decreased, the drug cases increased.” He didn’t denied the possibility of the rich selling drugs to the poor.

Shakina Begum said a teenager in the Hombegowda Nagar slum died because of drug injections. Not even MLAs, are able to help her daughter, who now dresses as a boy and runs away from home.

A similar problem has been observed by Valli, who has raised the issue at the Adugodi police station. Residents of slums are unable to inform the police who sell drugs. “How do we know who the culprit is? This is the work of the police, isn’t it?” she said.

Shakina was told about her daughter’s addiction by a police inspector. In the initial stage. Shakina’ s daughter was taken to a police station without her permission. She was harassed and her blood sample was taken.

Asked what drugs she takes, Shakina said she takes “MD”. She used to hang around with girls older than her who used to provide her with drugs She paid for the drugs by stealing money.

For now, Shakina’s daughter does not interact with those girls. Children below 14 consume drugs in the slum, which is leads to crimes and unwanted pregnancies. When the parents approach the police, they are told to keep their daughters inside their homes.

“I can share my problems with anganwadi workers, but I don’t trust them as they might spread the word.” Shakina said.

Erick, who was an addict for seven years, has now been sober for three years. He helps people, in slums, to quit drug.

From his experience in helping addicts in Srirampura and Hala- suru, Bengaluru, as well as Goa, he said that during the process of “12 AA”, only 3 per cent of addicts are able to get out of their addiction; the rest 97 per cent leave in between. “It’s been three years since I left drugs, but I still feel the craving.” yukta.m@iijnm.org

The 12-step programme used by Alcoholics Anonymous is used by most rehabilitation centres. Addicts are made to believe in a superpower or God. Through this belief, they are able to forget the past and move on.

Erick also shared about a world community platform called “No Matter What Club”, which gives addicts an opportunity to speak for themselves. The meeting starts with several prayers. Every addict is given a minute to speak up.

Shakina does not know about the 12 AA programme. So she The only solution she knew took her daughter to the nearby Arogya Kendra, where she was prescribed tablets and chewing gum to eliminate addiction. Neither helped her daughter get better.