The Association of Heads of ICSE Schools in Kolkata on Friday upped the vigil outside school campuses following media reports claiming that sweets and chocolates laced with narcotics were being sold to children outside some schools.
"We have requested our schools to place their personnel near the gates and keep an eye on hawkers selling food during breaks and after school hours," the General Secretary of the Bengal chapter of the association, Nabarun Dey said. The measures had been initiated in the wake of the media reports, he said.
Reports suggested that peddlers were seeking to get young students addicted to narcotics in a bid to increase the sale of illegal drugs. Dey said school staff will mingle with hawkers to spot unknown faces and also look out for any new items being sold.
To a question, Dey said while the association which has some 200 schools under it in West Bengal had initiated preventive measures, it had not come across any evidence of such sweets being sold. "The health of our students is of paramount importance to us and we want to assure guardians about full- proof measures taken to ensure the safety of their wards," Dey, the Principal of Central Modern School, said.
Association member and school principal Ranjan Mitter said his institution would issue a circular to guardians cautioning them about reports of drug-laced candies. "But we hadn't come across any such incident," he said.