Questions on chitta spark debate, trigger curiosity

“If a person consumes chitta once, what are the chances of getting addicted?” “Can a habitual user leave drugs the next day, if he or she has the willpower?” These are only two out of several questions that are part of a general knowledge test held on September 12 for students of Class IX-XII, organised by the Punjab School Education Board

The unusual questionnaire, part of the state’s anti-drug campaign “Yudh Nashian Virudh”, has since stoked a controversy with several government teachers believing that they are inappropriate for such young children, while others feel that it is a legitimate attempt at generating awareness in society.

Daljit Singh Samrala, joint secretary of the Democratic Teachers’ Front (DTF), the largest government teachers union in Punjab, termed the exercise a “political stunt”.

He said, “We already create awareness about social evils such as drugs, dowry, unemployment and crime etc. What is the need to put more focus on ‘chitta’ (heroin)? A parent has complained to us that his daughter, studying in Class IX, has started asking about this drug.”

A second school-teacher, Gurpreet Singh, said, “Adolescents are vulnerable. Those who didn’t even know about the drugs are now discussing it with peers. We need to be responsible before asking such questions,” Gurpreet Singh said.

But Education Minister Harjot Bains told The Tribune that several hundred teachers were consulted and the topic was thoroughly discussed before questions on the drug were introduced into the questionnaire. “Instead of running away from the drug menace, society needs to accept that it’s a big problem and we must make our children aware about it well in advance,” argued Bains. He also pointed out that T-shirts bearing CM Bhagwant Mann’s picture were distributed to generate awareness on drug menace.

However, some teachers pointed out that the exercise aimed at preventing students from experimenting with drugs and to alert them.