Srinagar, Dec 7 (KNS) : The Department of Social Work, University of Kashmir, organised a two-day training programme for college teachers on ‘Identification and Referral Services for Substance Abuse’.
Vice-Chancellor Prof Nilofer Khan, who had inaugurated the programme Tuesday, said a collective effort is needed to eliminate the “scourge” of drug abuse from society.
She urged the Department of Social Work to choose trainers from amongst the workshop participants to utilise their services for further training of school teachers in different districts of Kashmir.
This way, the VC said, the workshop will become a continuous outcome-based activity.
“Let the department come up with a proposal in this regard. The University administration will provide all necessary support to this outreach activity,” she said.
Dr Deeba Khan, Deputy Director, J&K Health Services, said at least 70,000 people in J&K are involved in drug abuse and most of them are aged below 30 years, as per an official survey. She advocated a three-pronged ‘Prevention-Treatment-Rehabilitation’ strategy to effectively deal with the “burning problem”.
Registrar Dr Nisar A Mir highlighted the role of teachers in curbing social evils like drug abuse by leading the related awareness campaigns.
Dr Adil Bashir, workshop coordinator, earlier spelt out the objectives of the two-day event.
On the occasion, a drug addiction survivor narrated his “horrific experience” while being involved in drug abuse previously. Saying that he had lost both his health and happiness, the survivor said that substance abuse had damaged 55% of his liver, besides impacting his kidneys and lungs.
“I was shattered emotionally and financially. I appeal to all youth involved in drug abuse to come out of it,” he said. The survivor was felicitated by the Vice-Chancellor with a memento for coming out of the dark phase.
Director North Campus Prof Bashir Ahmad Ganai and Dr Majid Shafi, Nodal Officer, Addiction Treatment Facility, also shared their views.
Dr Sarfaraz conducted proceedings of the inaugural session and presented a vote of thanks.
The event concluded Wednesday with experts from diverse fields delivering talks on a range of issues related to the workshop theme. (KNS)