A Study into Certain Aspects of Drug Education Programmes in Malaysian Schools

This survey was conducted on all government secondary schools in the states of Perlis, Kedah, Perak and Penang. The study covered evaluation of several aspects of existing drug education programmes in Malaysian schools, as well as research activities directed towards developing and testing new drug education programmes for secondary schools.

This study reports on five main aspects or activities related to drug education in the 250 secondary schools surveyed in the states of Kedah, Penang, Perak and Perlis. The data was analyzed with respect to two important variables, namely, categories of schools and the risk level of the school. The five main aspects covered in this survey are, printed materials such as posters and pamphlets, non-printed materials (slides and films), and talks, seminars and workshops, and finally the school curriculum. In addition the comments of the headmasters regarding the drug education programmes in their schools were also sought.

The results of the survey indicated that the headmasters in general considered the existing facilities like posters, pamphlets, films, slides, exhibitions, talks, seminars and workshops as relatively useful for drug education. There is a slight indication that the larger schools tended to have more opportunities to participate in these activities than smaller schools and that schools in high-risk areas were more receptive of these activities. This trend was not strong but is present for some of these activities. In addition, the three school subjects considered most relevant to drug education are Civics, Health Education and Islamic Religious Instruction. It was felt that an attempt should be made to provide a systematic drug education programme in the existing syllabus in order to help prepare students to stay away from drugs while in school and especially after they leave school. The study concludes that an important and desirable feature of any drug education programme in schools is its preventive nature, thus it should employ strategies aimed at helping students to develop correct attitudes and values towards drugs and healthy living. Such attitudes and values will form the basis for students’ decisions on the use of drugs when they leave school.