85 percent of teachers are alcoholic and drug abusers

Higher education minister blames it on western culture but techies and counsellors beg to differ

85 percent of teachers are alcoholic and drug abusers

Higher education minister blames it on western culture but techies and counsellors beg to differ

A central government report reveals that 85 per cent of teachers are addicted to alcohol or drugs.

The figures have let loose a debate on whether it's western culture that's at the root of the problem.

Higher education minister Aravind Limbavali certainly thinks so. "The whole equation between the teacher and the student has changed now. They sit and drink together and teachers even hang out with the students, It's okay to mingle with students, but then there is a limit and with the IT sector, there is a western influence on all of them," he says.

'Why blame us?'

Limbavali's point of view, quite obviously, hasn't gone down well with techies. One of them, Kishan Kumar, says: "Why put the blame on us when we are not even forcing them to do any of this? If someone is an alcoholic, I don't understand why it has to be attributed to western culture and the IT influence. Don't people in villages drink?"

Don't blame the West

S Chandrasekhar, a clinical psychologist at Nimhans, agrees with Kumar that western culture and influence of the IT industry are not to blame. "There are many reasons for this depression and the lack of job satisfaction rates high," he says.

Ali Khwaja, a city-based counsellor, thinks it's the new generation of teachers who are alcoholics.
"One teacher I helped worked in an international school and one day, out of sheer boredom, he quit his job and got into drugs. It's really sad to see these people, who should be setting an example to the students, doing this," he says.

First person
Kiran Abraham (26) who teaches music at an international school in Bangalore was once an addict. "It started from my college days where drugs and alcohol were the done things," he says.

"One day, I was in such a bad condition that I felt I had to do something about it. So I got myself admitted to a rehabilitation centre and now I'm living an alcohol-free life."