Global Citizenship

June 7th, 2010

Drugs education in Colombia

nickmorgan

Comments: none Tags:  : Categories citizenship, colombia, international

Pupils from two Scottish secondary schools are visiting Colombia to see and hear first-hand about the societal and environmental impacts of the illegal Drugs trade. Citizens in both countries suffer from the effects of drugs such as cocaine, and anti-drugs campaigns are important to change behaviour. The students and their Headteachers were invited by the Vice President to make the visit, in recognition of their work on a schools project ‘Shared Responsibility’ led by the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency.

Girvan Academy in South Ayrshire has been involved in this work with the SCDEA for several years. A news release gives background and more detail about the things the visitors will experience, such as finding out more about cocaine production, alternative crops and drugs misuse at the community level.

Portobello High School in Edinburgh has joined the project, and a BBC news story reports on their involvement.

April 29th, 2009

Colombia and Ayrshire

nickmorgan

Comments: none Tags:  : Categories citizenship, colombia, international

Drugs education and its impact on communities is the theme of a very interesting collaborative project involving Girvan Academy in South Ayrshire and a high school in Colombia, South America. It has active Police support through the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, and support from LTS too.

An article in ‘The Herald’ titled “Pupils get lessons on cocaine trade” describes the work. And Gareth Rae, the teacher leading the project at Girvan, will be presenting a seminar about this activity this September at the Scottish Learning Festival conference in Glasgow. You can book online for a place at this free event.

The Guardian also covered the Girvan project in an article titled “Cracking Cocaine“.