{"id":8624,"date":"2024-04-17T22:00:11","date_gmt":"2024-04-17T19:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=8624"},"modified":"2024-04-17T22:00:11","modified_gmt":"2024-04-17T19:00:11","slug":"worrying-figures-over-student-drug-abuse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=8624","title":{"rendered":"Worrying figures over student drug abuse"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Over 400 secondary school students were referred for drug treatment programmes over the past three years, MPs heard on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The figure was revealed by Justice Minister Marios Hartsiotis at the House education committee where he highlighted the fact that the police drug squad Ykan was being left to deal with the problem when in fact teachers also needed to get more involved. He invited everyone across the education sector to cooperate on the issue.
\n\u201cFrom 2021 to 2024, Ykan sent 420 young people, mostly students, to therapeutic programmes,\u201d the minister said.
\nHartsiotis said that the burden of dealing with the drug problem in schools was falling to police when it was widely known and where parents and teachers often hesitated to press charges either to protect their children from the law, or in the case of teachers, out of fear for their own safety.
\nThe minister underlined the need for cooperation so that there could be better results. He acknowledged that there was a drug problem in schools, both inside and outside. MPs even heard that there was a problem at least in one primary school.
\nEducation Minister Athina Michaelidou, speaking after the committee meeting, acknowledged that teachers were hesitant to report drug trafficking in schools, but data showed this was changing.
\n\u201cThe ministry encourages teachers to report anything that seems strange to them,\u201d she said, adding that an internal electronic platform had now been set up where incidents in schools could be reported. \u201cIn the past there was a tendency to not want to create a bad image for the school,\u201d Michaelidou said.
\nAsked about the report related to drug trafficking outside primary schools, the minister said: \u201cIt doesn\u2019t help to either exaggerate situations, or cover them up.\u201d
\nDrug problems were not the only issues in schools, the MPs heard. Juvenile delinquency in general was a problem. Police chief, Stelios Papatheodorou, who was also at the committee, said the number of cases were down. Criminal acts involving minors were 496 in 2021 and 393 last year.
\nHe also highlighted that every school has a liaison with police so that they can confidentially report incidents of drugs or delinquency. Regarding cases involving the sexual abuse of a minor, he said that these are handled by the vulnerable persons management service.
\nA week ago, the education committee, behind closed doors heard that a high school pupil who was sexually abused by his classmates was still at the same school<\/strong>\u00a0as his abusers a month and a half after the incident.
\nMichaelidou, mentioning the specific case, said that until the police investigation is completed, there was little the school could do.
\n\u201cThe legislation obliges anyone who has even a suspicion of the involvement of a minor in a case of sexual abuse to report the incident directly to the police,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd, given the latest data, it appears that children and teachers are breaking their silence,\u201d she added.
\nMichaelidou said a decision had been taken to increase the number of people on the Immediate Intervention Team, while she acknowledged that more educational psychologists and counsellors were needed.
\nAkel MP Christos Christofides pointed out that currently there is only one psychologist for every 1,800 pupils.
\n\u201cI think this shows the amount of work that can or cannot be done,\u201d he said. \u201cOf course, we welcome the fact that the ministry of education recognises the problem but we expect solutions soon with the right staffing of all these key services.\u201d
\nRegarding the juvenile detention area, as provided for by the 2021 legislation, Hartsiotis said a deadline of 2026 for completion of the facility had been set and meetings were ongoing with the attorney-general\u2019s office.
\nIn the meantime, Michaelidou said a new study programme was being prepared for children with delinquent behaviour.
\nChristofides said it was all well and good to create resources after the fact but put none into prevention.\u00a0 \u201cWe cannot let social problems develop and then run behind the problem with management, which no matter how good it is cannot deal with the problem itself,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cThe root causes of the problem should be struck, which are poor social conditions and problem families. There should therefore be an emphasis on prevention.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the past three years, 420 secondary school students were referred for drug treatment programs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8625,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[4093,671,3894,5292,5702,2152,5732,3475,3,2369,1381,3929,6894,263,405,950,5596,250,3330,416,487,1823,4691,1419,1837,2796,582,417,998,5679,2685,6653,564,1346,2257,555,4569,3406,3331,4593,184,5012,1269,2168,4637,4620,1222,433,133,6893,4441,1806,836,1702,3378,3023,4861,6305],"class_list":["post-8624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cyprus","tag-abuse","tag-akel","tag-charges","tag-children","tag-committee","tag-completion","tag-conditions","tag-cooperation","tag-cyprus","tag-data","tag-deadline","tag-detention","tag-drug-treatment-programmes","tag-drugs","tag-education","tag-education-minister","tag-families","tag-google","tag-google-news","tag-hartsiotis","tag-incidents","tag-increase","tag-intervention","tag-investigation","tag-involvement","tag-issues","tag-justice","tag-justice-minister","tag-juvenile-detention","tag-law","tag-legislation","tag-management","tag-marios-hartsiotis","tag-meeting","tag-meetings","tag-ministry-of-education","tag-minor","tag-minors","tag-news","tag-office","tag-police","tag-police-chief","tag-police-investigation","tag-police-involvement","tag-primary-school","tag-report","tag-safety","tag-school","tag-schools","tag-secondary-school-students","tag-service","tag-services","tag-sexual-abuse","tag-silence","tag-students","tag-trafficking","tag-treatment","tag-who"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\nWorrying figures over student drug abuse<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"drug problem in schools. secondary school students, drug treatment programmes, police involvement\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Worrying figures over student drug abuse\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"drug problem in schools. secondary school students, drug treatment programmes, police involvement\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=8624\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ch.jfdi.cc\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-04-17T19:00:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/worrying-figures-over-student-drug-abuse.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cyprus Mail\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cyprus Mail\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?p=8624#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?p=8624\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Cyprus Mail\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/606e0fbe40ab1cad97176ec3e4e248f8\"},\"headline\":\"Worrying figures over student drug abuse\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-04-17T19:00:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?p=8624\"},\"wordCount\":700,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?p=8624#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/worrying-figures-over-student-drug-abuse.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"abuse\",\"AKEL\",\"charges\",\"children\",\"committee\",\"completion\",\"conditions\",\"cooperation\",\"Cyprus\",\"data\",\"deadline\",\"detention\",\"drug treatment programmes\",\"drugs\",\"Education\",\"education minister\",\"families\",\"Google\",\"Google News\",\"hartsiotis\",\"incidents\",\"increase\",\"intervention\",\"investigation\",\"involvement\",\"issues\",\"justice\",\"justice minister\",\"Juvenile detention\",\"law\",\"legislation\",\"management\",\"Marios Hartsiotis\",\"meeting\",\"meetings\",\"Ministry of Education\",\"minor\",\"minors\",\"news\",\"Office\",\"Police\",\"police chief\",\"police investigation\",\"police involvement\",\"primary school\",\"report\",\"safety\",\"school\",\"schools\",\"secondary school students\",\"service\",\"services\",\"sexual abuse\",\"silence\",\"students\",\"trafficking\",\"treatment\",\"WHO\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Cyprus\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?p=8624\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?p=8624\",\"name\":\"Worrying figures over student drug abuse\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?p=8624#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?p=8624#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/worrying-figures-over-student-drug-abuse.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-04-17T19:00:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/606e0fbe40ab1cad97176ec3e4e248f8\"},\"description\":\"drug problem in schools. secondary school students, drug treatment programmes, police involvement\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?p=8624#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?p=8624\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?p=8624#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/worrying-figures-over-student-drug-abuse.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/worrying-figures-over-student-drug-abuse.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Worrying figures over student drug abuse\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?p=8624#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Worrying figures over student drug abuse\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/\",\"name\":\"ch.jfdi.cc\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/606e0fbe40ab1cad97176ec3e4e248f8\",\"name\":\"Cyprus Mail\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cyprus-mail.com\\\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?author=3\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Worrying figures over student drug abuse","description":"drug problem in schools. secondary school students, drug treatment programmes, police involvement","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Worrying figures over student drug abuse","og_description":"drug problem in schools. secondary school students, drug treatment programmes, police involvement","og_url":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=8624","og_site_name":"ch.jfdi.cc","article_published_time":"2024-04-17T19:00:11+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/worrying-figures-over-student-drug-abuse.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Cyprus Mail","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cyprus Mail","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=8624#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=8624"},"author":{"name":"Cyprus Mail","@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/#\/schema\/person\/606e0fbe40ab1cad97176ec3e4e248f8"},"headline":"Worrying figures over student drug abuse","datePublished":"2024-04-17T19:00:11+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=8624"},"wordCount":700,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=8624#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/worrying-figures-over-student-drug-abuse.jpg","keywords":["abuse","AKEL","charges","children","committee","completion","conditions","cooperation","Cyprus","data","deadline","detention","drug treatment programmes","drugs","Education","education minister","families","Google","Google News","hartsiotis","incidents","increase","intervention","investigation","involvement","issues","justice","justice minister","Juvenile detention","law","legislation","management","Marios Hartsiotis","meeting","meetings","Ministry of Education","minor","minors","news","Office","Police","police chief","police investigation","police involvement","primary school","report","safety","school","schools","secondary school students","service","services","sexual abuse","silence","students","trafficking","treatment","WHO"],"articleSection":["Cyprus"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=8624","url":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=8624","name":"Worrying figures over student drug abuse","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=8624#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=8624#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/worrying-figures-over-student-drug-abuse.jpg","datePublished":"2024-04-17T19:00:11+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/#\/schema\/person\/606e0fbe40ab1cad97176ec3e4e248f8"},"description":"drug problem in schools. secondary school students, drug treatment programmes, police involvement","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=8624#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=8624"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=8624#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/worrying-figures-over-student-drug-abuse.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/worrying-figures-over-student-drug-abuse.jpg","width":2560,"height":1707,"caption":"Worrying figures over student drug abuse"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=8624#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Worrying figures over student drug abuse"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/","name":"ch.jfdi.cc","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/#\/schema\/person\/606e0fbe40ab1cad97176ec3e4e248f8","name":"Cyprus Mail","sameAs":["https:\/\/cyprus-mail.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?author=3"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}