Training of Trainers (TOT) a first of its kind course on Substance Use prevention in School settings and for Police functionaries started separately here today.Inaugurated by Deputy Commissioner Sushma Chauhan, the two day training programme for teachers is being organized by District Administration Jammu in collaboration with National Institute of Social Defence (NISD) as part of National Action Plan for Drug Demand Reduction (NAPDDR) of NISD - Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.Director NISD, Dr Veerindra Mishra, Senior Superintendent of Police, Jammu Tejinder Singh Superintendent of Police (North city) Amrit Pal Singh, Superintendent of Police (Hqr) Farooq Qaiser, Superintendent of Police, Rural Suram Singh, District Social Welfare officer Ajay Salaan and other senior functionaries of police and civil administration were present on the occasion.As many as 35 teachers from government schools and 50 police officers from the district are participating in the programme.The aim of this programme is to create awareness among teachers regarding the Substance Abuse as its magnitude is increasing day by day. Substance Abuse refers to the harmful or hazardous use of psychoactive substances, including alcohol and illicit drugs which can further result in dependence syndrome to behavioural, cognitive and physiology aspects. Excessive use of these drugs resulted depicts harmful effects on day to day activities and sometimes it can also become fatal.
A training module separately for school setting and police functionaries was introduced and sessions related to relevant topics on Substance use prevention was carried out during the training programme.The Deputy Commissioner appreciated the efforts of NISD for taking these initiatives to orient and equip the teachers for such kind of skills so that they can work at the prevention level.She said that it is the teaching community, which plays a major role in transforming the lives of students.She appealed to the teachers to equip future generations with sturdy intellect and positive thinking process so that they can contribute to the betterment of society and eradicate social ills like drug abuse.In the two-day programme, subject experts and resource persons including Manager NAPDDR, Dr Sijo George, Project Assistant Anamika Rai, Director RRTC, Vijay Kumar and Durgesh Nandan, SLSA Jyoti Sharma and Chairman, Team Jammu Zorawar Singh Jamwal have been invited to deliver talks to the participants on various issues related to drug abuse prevention in society.The participants for TOT Substance Use in School settings were sensitized on various topics which include negative consequences of drug use, teaching life skills, preparing adolescence to say No to Drugs and helping adolescence to find healthy alternatives against drugs.Meanwhile, the Police functionaries were introduced various concepts related to drug use and disorders and magnitude of the menace. Sessions on dealing addicts: viewing in a social justice perspectives, legal acts and drug control agencies, tackling within the police community, role and responsibility of the police functionaries to deal substance use prevention.