Shania Shayal Prasad 
Member of Parliament Ioane Naivalurua highlights the critical need for life skills training in schools to equip young people with tools to resist drugs.
Speaking during the Speaker’s Debate on drugs, he stressed that prevention must start early and continue consistently throughout students’ development.
He adds this will effectively address drug use, which often begins during adolescence.
“A review of the most effective programs shows that they are based on life skills training that target not just drug use but also equips the child with broader life skills and social resistance. Teaching children how to say no to drugs, but why to say no to drugs, not just once, but again and again.”
Naivalurua states that an ongoing, structured approach to prevention in schools would help strengthen young people’s ability to make informed, healthy decisions.
