This article is from page 18 of the 2013-10-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 18 JPG
CLARE students need to receive more education about the problems associated with binge drinking before they begin college.
Shannon student and Student Union president at the Limerick Institute of Technology, Chris Walsh, believes that not enough is being done in secondary school to prepare young student for the dangers of alcohol.
Hundreds of Clare students drop out of third level courses between September and December each year – with alcohol played in a major role in many of these cases.
“We have a big emphasis on the first years. They are living on their own for the first time and they can get caught up in everything that in happening around them,” Chris told The Clare People yesterday.
“First years do go a little bit mad so we do try to hit them early on with any information that we can. First years will always be a bit crazy for those first few weeks but education is a big thing.
“We try and prepare them as best we can but I think that it [information about alcohol] is something that has been left behind in secondary school. I think some of the students are coming in at 17 or 18 years of age and they haven’t had an education on the dangers of alcohol and binge drinking.
“The drinking culture does go with college to a certain extent and I think this is something that second- ary school could focus on more, so they have the information when they arrive in college.”
The Students Union at LIT run a number of information campaigns about alcohol throughout the year but often times the information comes too late for students who have not lasted past the first few months of college because of the effects of drinking.
“The information is all there, it is just a case of getting it to them at the right time. I think there is probably not a lot ground work being done in the secondary school when students are younger, before it [alcohol] becomes a big factor in their social life,” said Chris.
“We run a number of different drink aware campaigns throughout the year and we try to focus them around any big events or festivals that will be taking place on campus. We always run a campaign in the run up to RAG week for example, just to encourage people to be aware of what they are drinking.”