Substance abuse by learners : a pastoral care challenge

Abstract

Substance abuse by learners in South African schools has become a daunting task that requires all the stakeholders to work together to normalise the situation which has escalated to greater heights because of the illicit street drug called Nyaope. The drug market has risen proportionally resulting in most learners indulging in the usage of Nyaope at schools. The substance Nyaope has impacted the lives of the learners psychologically and physiologically and consequently abscond from school, do crime, show poor performance in their schoolwork, disrupt classes at any given time, and instigate violence, thus rendering schools ungovernable. This scourge of Nyaope has caused learners to commit petty crimes such as stealing and burglary which resulted in most of them being convicted of such crimes.

The purpose of this study is to care for individuals through pastoral care and to address the issue of Nyaope. In the end, the learners might be able to consider the morality of their actions. The researcher who is a teacher, pastor and caregiver had used sources of Gerkin, Wimberly and Pollard interchangeably to sustain pastoral care and guidance to assist learners to make confident and informed choices between alternative thoughts and actions in the present and the future state of the soul. The sources will also help them endure and transcend circumstances that seem improbable.

The method that was selected for this study was qualitative to ensure that different views, meanings, and understanding of the phenomenon of learners, allow them to describe, motivate and justify the phenomenon being studied. Qualitative will also assist in the interview of the participants and again assist the researcher to understand the worldview of the participants.

This study was conducted in the schools around the suburb of Sunnyside, notoriously known, as the drug hub of the capital city of Pretoria, which is on the north-eastern side. This research has been conducted solely to assist learners who are in drugs to understand the facts about common drugs, substance abuse, and substance-related problems and recovery. Through therapeutic attention, the learners will self-correct problem behaviours as well as negative thought patterns that led to these behaviours.