Social media users have been sharing an unverified story involving drugs and six male students in Grade 9 (G-9) from the Basic Education High School in Kyaikmaraw. According to the school Principal, Daw Hla Than, the story is false.
On the morning of September 17th, the Facebook page named Kyaikmaraw/ Mudon News had a post saying drugs had been found at the school and six, grade nine students attending B.E.H.S Kyaikmaraw were transferred to the Kyaikmaraw hospital.
The Facebook post went on to say that a drug test showed six students had used drugs, and [the school] called the parents for a meeting.
It appears this Facebook post may have started because of a meeting that was organized to discuss issues related to students chewing betel nut and smoking.
“Due to the request of students’ parents, we arranged a meeting between parents, the School Regulator Team, class head and subject teachers, The discussion was related to the issue of chewing betel nut and smoking amongst students. The children seemed to understand when we tried to talk and educate them. Two of them used to do drugs, three to four times, but have stopped using it. We told them that if they stop using drugs, we would give them a long break and then they can come back for their studies,” said the school Principal.
She added that some students eat and chew betel nut. They tend to gather with friends and sneak out of school to also sometimes drink alcohol, but no drugs are used at school.
“[I] have no idea how the news came out that way [on social media]. No drug has ever been found at school. We do not do urine drug testing either. It was false information. [We] can ask all teachers to prove it,” continued the school Principal Daw Hla Than.
A week earlier, one student was found to have a 6-inch-long knife in his possession. The incident caused parents to raise their concerns about what was happening at the school.
According to a representative from the academic community, the school has written a letter to the Mon State government urging them to take any necessary action regarding the social media platform spreading false information.
