A FEMALE student of a prominent Christian school in Suva was allegedly found in possession of methamphetamine recently.
This was confirmed by the school manager, who said the drug find happened inside the school premises and the matter was reported to police.
He believes the issue of drug use in school is out of control and should be treated as a “national issue”.
Police spokeswoman Ana Naisoro said they did not have a report on the matter, but the manager insisted the guidelines from the Education Ministry was clear and required all cases that were criminal in nature “must be reported to police”.
Ms Naisoro said police had advised schools on the forms of actions to take on students who committed such criminal acts. “What we have relayed to respective school heads through our community policing teams is to let us know if there are incidents where students are found with drugs so we can investigate,” she said.
In the meantime, two Christian churches have condemned the use of drugs in schools.
President of the Methodist Church in Fiji and Rotuma, the Rev Epineri Vakadewavosa said he was not aware of any recent case regarding the use of drugs in Methodist-owned schools but a meeting today with stakeholders and representatives of the church’s institutions would discuss issues affecting their schools.
He said the church did not condone the use of drugs in schools. General secretary of the Seventh-day Adventist church in Fiji, Pastor Joe Talemaitoga said students found in possession of drugs should be sent home immediately.
“In any Adventist school whether it’s in the primary or high school, the church immediately sends them home,” he said.
“We cannot tolerate having them on our school compound, they are given counselling, the parents are also counselled, but we must continue to send a strong message to these young people that such behaviour is not condoned.”
Meanwhile, two people were taken into custody in Tavua yesterday for allegedly receiving white powder believed to be methamphetamine.
Ms Naisoro said both were arrested after a tip-off.
