Director general of the Drug Control Headquarters for cultural and prevention affairs warned against an increasing tendency among schoolchildren and university students toward drug abuse.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Drug Coordination Council in Khorasan Razavi province, Hamid Sarami added that over 13.3 percent of pupils and 20 percent of university students are exposed to drugs.
He warned that the social disorder is outpacing precautionary measures taken to curb the malady.
The official put the number of people abusing drugs either regularly or recreationally at four million.
Sarami cited surveys conducted in Khorasan Razavi province based on which 17.1 percent of schoolchildren and 20.5 percent of university students are bordering on addiction--figures which, he believes, should set off alarm bells for the officialdom.
Sarami further pointed out that 17.1 percent of university students and 11.8 percent of pupils in the northeastern province are exposed to alcoholic drink consumption.
The official stressed that further studies need to be conducted to help confront the adverse phenomenon.

While the average unemployment rate stands at 12 percent, the figure is registered at 14 percentamong those holding university degrees.

Head of Tehran University’s Entrepreneurship Center observed that higher education institutions are incapable of educating students who can actively utilize their know-how in the job market.
Addressing a gathering of heads of nationwide entrepreneurship centers, Mostafa Razavi noted that the centers, the first of which were established five years ago, are now active in 42 universities.
The entities help university graduates to tap their potential, enabling them to launch successful ventures using their academic know-how and skills, the official added.
He stated that while the average unemployment rate stands at 12 percent, the figure is 14 percent among those holding university degrees. “The rate is even much higher for women graduates,“ he noted.
The official elaborated that students majoring in humanities have more difficulty finding jobs compared to graduates of other fields.
Razavi said the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology intends to launch entrepreneurship centers at nonprofit higher education institutions run by the ministry.
Pointing out that the center is grappling with financial woes, the official elaborated that up until two years ago, special funds were allocated to universities to be spent on expansion of these centers. “Yet the funds have been cut from the universities’ 2006-2007 budget,“ he regretted.
Razavi warned that further apathy toward the newly-established centers would bring their activities to a standstill.
Speaking at the same gathering, head of Al-Zahra University’s Entrepreneurship Center, Forough Shojaei Nouri, put the unemployment rate among female university graduates at 22.2 percent.
She added that the figure should be reduced to 9.2 percent as targeted by the Fourth Five-Year Development Plan (2005-2010).
Given that the number of girls studying at universities is on the rise, the female students should undergo special training to be prepared for the job market, the official explained.

Buses hired by camp organizers should be free of any technical flaws and should be supplied with necessary safety equipment.

Caretaker of Highway Police cautioned against recruiting unskilled drivers and using defective vehicles for transferring students on field trips, IRNA reported.
Hadi Hashemi recalled that a number of university students and schoolchildren had lost their lives in tragic road accidents in recent years.
He emphasized that the Education Department and other educational institutions should employ experienced drivers and buses which are approved by the Transport and Terminals Organization for field trips.
He admitted that many schools cannot afford the high costs of renting these buses and added, “Still, school officials are expected to consider a number of standards while selecting buses and drivers.“
He said, “Highway Police has been notified of the standards which the buses should meet while transporting schoolchildren on inter-city roads.“
He said that buses hired by camp organizers from state-run and private companies should be free of any technical flaws and should be supplied with necessary safety equipment.
Highlighting that two drivers should be present on trips which last more than eight hours, he insisted that the drivers should hold heavy vehicle driver’s license and the vehicles must have tune-up certificates.

A new major themed ÔRescue and ReliefÕ will be set up in schools with the cooperation of Iranian Red Crescent Society.

A new major would be introduced to the skills education (Kar Danesh) curricula as of next school year (to start Sept. 23, 2006), director general of Skills Education Office said.
Esfandyar Chaharband was quoted by ISNA as saying that a new major themed ’Rescue and Relief’ would be set up in schools with the cooperation of Iranian Red Crescent Society.
He put the number of students studying in 292 fields at 3,117 skills education schools across the country at 453,000. Over 40 percent of them are girls.
Chaharband added that apart from instructing pure science to their students, these schools try to increase their skills as well.
Assessing the overall performance of skills education schools as successful, the official said about 55 percent of the graduates have managed to find jobs in related fields.
He said that technical/vocational schools were initially established to help raise employment rate among high school graduates.
Chaharband stated that a six-million-rial budget per student is earmarked for these schools. Some 300,000 rials of the amount should be spent on repairs and maintenance of the school equipment.
The official added that 40 billion rials have been set aside for upgrading these schools during the next school year.

A lad riding a donkey in Tafresh, Markazi province (Photo by Mehdi Khoshnevis)

Golestan Welfare Department launched a special child hotline in an effort to provide assistance to children who are subjected to harassment or abusive behavior, IRNA reported.
Deputy head of the department for social and preventive programs said, “The hotline renders free emergency services to distressed children particularly in cases of child abuse.“
Ebrahim Ghaffari announced the hotline numbers 123 for Gorgan, the provincial capital, as well as 2268320 and 2268330 for other local cities.
He went on, “The hotline was launched with the help of State Welfare Organization and Iran Telecommunication Company concurrent with the Welfare Week (July 15-21).“
He urged the public to report cases of abuse and harassment to the department.
Stressing that children are abused at a much greater rate than women, he recalled, “Based on 2002 figures, about 73 percent of child abuse cases were committed by family members.“

China is attempting to popularize cultural heritage protection and traditional culture among young people through the medium of cartoons, Xinhua reported.
The first China cultural heritage animation competition, launched on July 7 by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH), lasts for three months.
The online competition aims to attract all walks of life, especially young people, in China and the winning entry will be screened on television.
A total of 31 sites in China have been listed as World Heritage sites. The cultural heritage left over 5,000 years of history offers plentiful resources for designing cartoons, said Liu Shuguang, an official of SACH.
The cartoons, especially popular among young people, will help promote the protection of cultural heritage, which is facing a growing threat from urbanization in China, Liu said.
An official from the Ministry of Information Industry Liu Jiuru said the total output value of China’s animation industry reached 18 billion yuan ($2.25 billion) in 2005.

Lack of entertainment is one of the biggest problems afflicting Iraqi youth, IRIN reported.
Lamia’a Ibraheem, a health ministry psychiatrist, pointed to an increase in the number of young people suffering from serious depression and stress since last year. Ibraheem added that these symptoms have, in some cases, resulted in cardiac and pulmonary diseases.
“I’ve found hundreds of cases of people who were psychologically stressed due to the lack of entertainment for all genders and ages,“ she said.
Ibraheem went on to say that the constant insecurity that has come in the wake of the US-led invasion and occupation of the country has only worsened a problem already present during the regime of former president Saddam Hussein.
“During Saddam Hussein’s time, there were few places for us to go to have fun,“ said Hiba Rabia’a, one of Ibraheem’s patients who has been suffering bouts of depression.
“But at least we were safe, and we weren’t afraid to meet our friends.“
Today’s Iraq has very few places available to the public for diversion. The capital boasts about ten cinemas that screen old movies and two dilapidated public parks, while restaurants generally close at 8:00 pm.
Ibraheem warned of the possible psychological consequences if the situation does not improve. “It’s a critical problem,“ she said. “If it continues, it could cause retardation or incurable depression.“
It is young children, however, that are most affected by the dearth of amusement. “I’m sad because we’re now in the summer holidays,“ said 10-year-old Baghdad resident Mounir Zuheir. “At school, we had fun--but now my parents are afraid to let me play football outside my home.“
While Zuheir suffers from regular bouts of depression, his mother has rejected a psychiatrist’s suggestion that she take him to play in public places, saying that she would not expose him to danger.
According to Ibraheem, however, such a degree of “overprotection“ can also have negative effects on the child and make the learning process more difficult when he or she returns to school.
“The holidays should be a time for children to play,“ said Saleh Muhammad, a spokesman for the Baghdad-based Children Saving Association. “But in Iraq, it’s like prison, because children are over-protected by their parents. If security doesn’t improve, children’s mental health is going to get worse by the day.“

Slightly more US teens are smoking cigarettes, researchers reported in a study they say suggests efforts to stop children from smoking have stalled, Reuters reported.
The latest analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds the percentage of high school students reporting that they have smoked cigarettes in the past month increased to 23 percent in 2005 from 21.9 percent in 2003.
The increase is the first since a steady 40-percent decline in high school smoking rates between 1997, when 36.4 percent of high school students smoked, and 2003.
“The national decline in youth smoking observed during 1997 to 2003 might have stalled,“ the CDC writes in its weekly report on sickness and death.
There are several possible reasons, said Dr. Terry Pechachek of the CDC’s Office of Smoking and Health.
For one, states have not been consistently raising taxes on cigarettes, although such tax increases have been shown to reduce youth smoking. States are also not funding educational campaigns in schools and the media like they used to, he said. “And, the researchers noted in the report, there have been “substantial increases in tobacco industry expenditures on tobacco advertising and promotion in the United States, from $5.7 billion in 1997 to $15.2 billion in 2003.“ “Additionally, after decades of decline, smoking in movies, which has been linked to youth smoking, increased rapidly beginning in the early 1990s and by 2002 was at levels observed in 1950,“ they wrote.
Pechachek said the report may be a wake-up call to public health officials.
There is one small piece of good news. Smoking rates declined among black teens from 19 percent in 2003 to 14 percent in 2005.