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The arrest of 16 pupils from Milton High School, Townsend Girls High and Pace College after they were caught drinking and abusing dangerous drugs at Centenary Park in Bulawayo last Friday, is very disturbing. The fact that these pupils who were all in school uniform, had the guts to indulge in such anti-social activities in broad daylight is frightening to say the least.

The pupils, it seems, are not afraid of both their teachers and parents. These pupils do not also respect the communities in which they live hence they could indulge in such shameful acts during the day in a public place such as Centenary Park.

According to police sources, the pupils who are all minors, are suspected to have engaged in sexual activities because used condoms were found nearby. The police recovered bottles of whisky, dagga and widely abused cough syrup with high alcohol content, Broncleer, popularly known as Bronco following the raid. The sources said after their arrest, the eight boys and eight girls admitted to drinking and taking dangerous drugs and engaging in sexual activities. What really has happened to our moral fabric as a society?

This animalistic behaviour by pupils from such respected high schools is really a cause for concern. Parents send their children to school to learn and not to indulge in anti-social behaviour such as alcohol or drug abuse. It is even worse when children decide to be ‘fathers and mothers and engage in sexual activities.’ The parents could be failing to properly raise their children or the teachers who are supposed to play a complementary role could also be failing.

There are reports that most of the pupils engaging in this anti-social behaviour are spoiled kids who are being pampered with a lot of cash by their parents who are abroad. It is these pupils who have ready cash who are organising house parties called Vuzu parties. During these parties the youths engage in ‘sexual marathons’ whereby they compete to see who would have slept with the highest number of girls.

The National Aids Council, concerned about the dangers of youths engaging in unprotected sex, has joined hands with the police to campaign against these parties which are putting the lives of youths, especially school pupils at risk. The challenge to society is to find a solution to this appetite by pupils to engage in sex while still at school which was taboo yesteryear.

We need to really find the root cause of this wayward behaviour which is threatening to devour a whole generation. The parents in the Diaspora who are spoiling their children by sending them a lot of money should stop forthwith and only send money to meet the children’s needs. It is important for these children to be looked after by elders who should act as guardians. The parents, as the police said, should always monitor the behaviour of their children in order to detect early any awkward behaviour. These children who are supposed to be our future leaders will soon be statistics after falling victim to the Aids pandemic.

It is a fact that these pupils who indulge in anti-social behaviour such as drug and alcohol abuse as well as sexual activities cannot excel at school. Society has an obligation to preach the gospel of abstinence especially among the school pupils as this will not only enable them to concentrate on their studies but will also protect them from the Aids scourge which continues to claim millions of people that include the young and the old globally every year.

School authorities whose pupils were arrested should punish the culprits severely in order to send a clear message that such behaviour is not acceptable.