Page 1735 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 18 August 1992
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Preschools - Suggested Closures
MR MOORE: My question is directed to Mr Wood, the Minister for Education. Many people in the community are very anxious about suggestions that preschools, particularly in Downer, Hackett and Watson, are about to be closed and consolidated into an area preschool at Majura Primary School. Will you give an assurance that these freestanding preschools and others, particularly in the inner north and inner south regions, have your protection?
MR WOOD: Mr Moore says that many people are concerned. That is probably the case with respect to those three preschools, because my office also got a number of calls asking whether it was true that I was going to close them. That confused me, because I had no intention of closing them, Mr Moore. I had no debate about it. There had been no discussion anywhere on that matter. On inquiry, I discovered that the Majura Primary School Board report of late July has in it an article by, presumably, the chair of that board - certainly a member - in which it is stated that that might be expected. He had no basis on which to make those remarks. I think they were speculative, perhaps mischievous. We have no intention of closing down those preschools.
You asked a wider question about preschools. A number of preschools have been relocated or co-located in the last year. I am not accelerating any process on that. If it transpires that some of them do relocate or co-locate as a result of earlier actions, and the communities agree, that is fine by me; but I have no plans under way in that respect.
Drug Use in Schools
MR WESTENDE: My question is directed to the Minister for Education. Can the Minister give us an indication of the level of drug use in ACT schools, what types of drugs are being used and what counselling services are provided within the schools? Is there an ongoing education program to warn children of the dangers of all forms of drugs, including smoking and alcohol?
MR WOOD: That is a good question. To answer the last part first, yes, in our schools there are strong programs on drug use, including drinking and smoking. Indeed, I think one of my colleagues - it may be the Chief Minister - is shortly launching a program to deter binge drinking. These threads of smoking and drinking are very strongly pursued through schools and are formally part of school curriculums. Use of other drugs such as narcotics and the like - or the misuse or abuse of them - is also a feature of programs in schools. We support, for example, a program like the Life Education Centre, which operates quite well in our schools. Recently I had further discussions to ensure that these programs are wideranging and cover all areas.
You asked about the incidence of drug use in our schools, and that is a question I cannot easily answer. Various surveys on drug use are done, I believe, by health authorities and the like. They may well encompass school communities, but the school sector itself does not do extensive recording of this and, in fact, I am not sure how reliable the data would be. The approach we take is clearly that drug use of an addictive or difficult nature is to be discouraged. Some programs caution children about the use of prescription drugs and the normal routine medical treatment they receive and emphasise that care needs to be exercised with all drugs. It is certainly an important feature of programs in our schools.
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