Facing mounting criticism over the Education Department’s di rective declaring a 500-metre drug free zone around schools, Chief Min ister Pramod Sawant on Friday sought to contain the controversy by making it clear that schools are not expected to police the areas surrounding their campuses. In a clarification, Sawant said the much-debated 500-metre radius was primarily an awareness and monitor ing measure and not a new enforce ment mechanism. He also sought to dispel fears that the directive could create an absurd situation where drug sales beyond the 500-metre boundary were treated differently. “There is no need for 500-metre demarcations and all. The circular is primarily for awareness,” Sawant said. “Nobody will be allowed to sell drugs anywhere,” he added, stressing that the Anti-Narcotics Cell and Goa Police would continue to act against drug offences across the State, irrespective of their distance from educational institutions.
The clarification came after the circular triggered questions over whether headmasters were effectively being made responsible for keep ing a 500-metre stretch around their schools free of drugs — a task ex tending into private homes, shops, roads and other establishments be yond their jurisdiction. Education Director Shailesh Zingde sought to reinforce the govern ment’s damage-control message, saying schools had not been given any policing powers or enforcement duties. “Schools have been asked to display awareness boards and report sus picious activities in and around their premises to the police,” Zingde said, making it clear that enforcement action would remain with the police. Zingde said the initiative was based on instructions from the Centre and was comparable to the existing tobacco-free zones around education al institutions. “We have tobacco-free zones where the jurisdiction is 100 metres. That also is beyond the school premises. This has not been issued by the Gov ernment of Goa; this has been based on instructions from the Centre,” he said. The department had, around two years ago, written to the PWD seeking demarcation of the 500-metre radius, but the exercise was not completed. Zingde, however, said physical demarcation was not the priority and that the focus was on creating awareness and reporting suspicious activity.
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The attempt to clarify the directive followed sharp criticism from the Opposition, which questioned the logic of imposing a radius that school authorities had neither the powers nor the resources to enforce. Velim MLA Cruz Silva said the government’s objective of protecting children from drugs was legitimate but argued that the responsibility for policing areas outside school premises could not be shifted to principals. “A school principal has responsibility for the school and its students — not for every house, shop, road, establishment or private property within a 500-metre radius,” Silva said. He said the 500-metre area should instead be treated as an enforce ment priority for the police and narcotics agencies, rather than as an ob ligation on school authorities. MLA Venzy Viegas went further, calling the circular an ‘eyewash’ and alleging that narcotics had already entered school campuses. He demand ed a comprehensive statewide crackdown on the drug trade rather than what he described as a symbolic measure. Congress leader Amit Patkar also questioned the practical value of the directive, asking what authority a headmaster could exercise over areas outside the school. “His power is restricted to the school campus only. There can be hous es of people and there can be roads.
What control does the headmaster have?” Patkar asked. Patkar announced a statewide anti-drug campaign involving parents, students, teachers and citizens to expose drug networks and press for action against peddlers and those allegedly protecting them. The criticism was not confined to politicians. “We need to ask whether this circular is effectively shifting the respon sibility of drug control to educational institutions. Does the Education Department have any data on the availability of drugs in schools? Instead of focusing on a 500-metre radius, the government should focus on the drug supply chain and identify those controlling the network,” questioned Goa University assistant professor Ramarao Wagh. Congress spokesperson Amarnath Panjikar summed up the confusion surrounding the radius with a sarcastic question: “Sale of drugs allowed at 501 metres from educational institutions?” Sawant insisted there would be no geographical loophole for drug ped dlers, while the Education Department sought to establish that schools are expected to create awareness and alert the police — not enforce a drug-free perimeter.
