Bohol will pilot and wage with continuity in all elementary schools a strategy developed by the Los Angeles police in the US against illegal drugs and prohibited substances. Gov. Edgar Chatto said it will apply the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) approach, a police officer-led series of classroom lessons that teach children how to resist pressures to experiment with drugs and other harmful substances. Developed by the police in tie-up with the unified school district in Los Angeles, California in 1983, the DARE is a comprehensive long-term educational approach to prevent substance abuse among children. The DARE core curriculum targets Grades V and VI students who can be most susceptible to peer influence once they enter high school, according to retired Sr. Supt Rolando Abutay who headed the team of mentors. The governor would have it seriously implemented and sustained in pilot schools starting the June class opening while more DARE police mentors are trained for Bohol-wide application of the program.

Veteran law enforcers can answer questions from the students about drugs, alcohol and other harmful substances based on their years of training and direct experience with the ruined lives and street crimes caused by substance abuse. While strictly in this aspect the police officers have an unmatched credibility compared to regular classroom teachers, a teacher-DARE officer partnership is essential to the program. Select police officers completed here on Friday their 10-day trainor’s training conducted by DARE experts as facilitated by the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) in partnership with the Philippine National Police (PNP), Department of Education (DepEd), Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC) and Bohol government. DDB Exec. Dir. Jorge Necesito, Deputy Exec. Dir. for Operations Benjamin Reyes and legal consultant Cesar Posada, DepEd Central Office director Dr. Ma. Corazon Dumlao, PNP Prov’l. Dir. Constantino Paul Barot, Jr., Provincial Administrator Alfonso Damalerio II and Board Member Cesar Tomas Lopez talked and graced the training.

The mentors included SP04 Fernando Galang, a DARE international mentor for 16 years and DARE officer of the PNP Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force for 19 years. He was a DDB Annual Recognition awardee last year. The first of its kind in the Visayas, the training was participated, too, by select policemen from Cebu, Negros Oriental and Siquijor. Forty-one police officers completed the training, majority of them from Bohol. Of the 41, one came from Sarangani province who was sent and funded by Rep. Manny Pacquiao just to get DARE training here. Chatto, also the RPOC-7 chair and training graduation guest, dared the DARE pioneers here to discharge their responsibilities to the best of their abilities as he vowed full support in the infancy of the implementation and sustainability of the program. According to the DDB, Bohol has 87 “seriously drug-affected barangays,” 51 moderately affected, and 138 slightly affected. Regionwide, Cebu topped in all categories. Local government units, anti-drug councils and the community in general can help ensure DARE continuity thru, for example, funding the DARE school materials, among others. The governor showed his strongest resolve against illegal drugs which, according to the DDB, still had 3.4 million users in the country in 2009 alone. The DARE help pupils recognize the detrimental effects of drugs and other substances like tobacco and alcohol and resist the influence of getting into their addiction. It further makes them resist gangs and violence.

PREVENTION

The program utilizes the strategy of prevention so that its curriculum was developed by educators to be presented to school children by specially trained men in uniform. Values formation is the core of the curriculum, thus, enabling the students to be effective models for their peer group. As the evils of drugs and alcohol are emphasized to them, the children are given skills needed to recognize the subtle and overt pressures that cause them to experiment with harmful substances. As important bonus benefits, the program offers them the opportunity to gain trustworthy adult friend, develop a positive attitude toward law enforcement personnel, and acquire greater respect.

CURRICULUM

The DARE curriculum for fifth and sixth graders consists of 17 45-minute lessons to be conducted by the DARE officers on a weekly basis. The lessons are structured, sequential and cumulative. They employ a wide range of teaching strategies that emphasize student participation, including question-and-answer, group discussion and role-play activities. The curriculum teaches the students the social skills to recognize and resist peer influence and other pressures when faced with personal choices. In addition to building refusal skills, DARE lessons develop self-esteem, risk assessment, resolving disagreement and decision-making skills, interpersonal and communication skills, critical thinking, and the identification of positive alternatives to negatives pressures. DARE officers teach during the entire semester, presenting each week one lesson of the 17-lesson core curriculum. The 17 th lesson is the culmination activity in which the students make personal commitment to resist drugs.

DARE policemen will further get into co- and extra-curricular activities and spend hours interacting with the students outside the classrooms. They will organize community –based support groups for the program while the students’ parents themselves can organize follow-up informational drug prevention activities. This, even such question as this can crop up: Will the education community resist the PNP presence in classroom? Policemen are viewed as law enforcers, not teachers, but DARE officers are well-trained, committed individuals who quickly prove their effectiveness in classrooms. When teachers and school principal observe police officers teaching about the DARE, their resistance can change into a receptive attitude, one DARE mentor asserted. DARE experts lauded the Bohol governor for bringing to Bohol---and Region 7---the program in its pilot run in the Visayas. The DARE at the same pursues the drug demand reduction strategy as directed in the PNP Letter of Instruction on Kontra Droga Bravo. Chatto said the DARE is a long-term investment in future generations and a precise support that reinforces for students the importance of saying no to drugs. (Ven rebo Arigo)