Kathmandu, November 30:

Though a recent survey had pointed at rampant drug abuse among students in the Valley-based colleges and schools, the institutions concerned have hardly taken any initiative to control this social ill.

Officials at these colleges say the question of not taking initiatives to curb drug abuse does not arise because there are hardly any drug abusers in their institutions.

Dr Rajan Suwal, principal of the Khowpa Engineering College, says that his college has not found any evidence suggesting that students in his college are into drug abuse.

“We take written exams and interviews before enrolling students in our college and strictly observe the behaviour of each student. That is why, there is less chance of students getting into drugs in our college.”

“If such cases are found, we either inform the guardians or send the students concerned to counselling centres.”

Kapil Dev Regmi, principal of the Don Bosco College, says that though his college runs an anti-drug programme twice a year, it does not have any long-term campaign against drug abuse. “Among 1,800 students, we hardly find five to six students taking drugs. That is why, we have not felt the need to initiate long-term campaigns on a regular basis.”

But a report, released by the D-Care Foundation in September and based on a survey of 281 schools in the Kathmandu Valley, pointed that about 75 per cent of the surveyed schools had never taken any preventive or interventionist initiatives against drug abuse. Only 25 schools surveyed had launched a few programmes, that too some years ago.

According to recent government data, the number of drug addicts in the country has reached 1.5 lakh. The number is increasing by 10 to 15 per cent annually.