Navchetna

Features Navchetna

The Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment (MSJE) released a report titled "Magnitude of Substance Use in India” in 2019, following the National Survey on Extent and Pattern of Substance Use in India which highlighted the enormous scale of people using drugs, becoming drug dependent, and needing help to address their drug use (both licit and illicit).Training packages for adults are implemented in India but fail to match the specific needs of teachers to educate school children to strengthen life skills with the inclusion of drug use issues.
To address this gap, the Society for Promotion of Youth and Masses (SPYM) in consultation with the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MSJE) developed a series of training modules named “NAVCHETNA: A New Consciousness on Life Skills and Drug Education for School Children.” The evidence-based training modules have been divided into Upper Primary (Grade VI to Grade VIII: containing three modules) and Secondary Schools (Grade IX to Grade XI: containing six modules).
During the piloting of these educational tools, Master Trainer Teachers were trained to convey a range of life skills and drug education topics in various schools.
Teachers and school children praised the content.
The time has come for more school children to be engaged with NAVCHETNA, by training a cadre of Master Trainer Teachers, through physical training (in-person), with additional support of teaching aids being provided, including a series of videos of each module.
The scale of substance use among children in India requires a robust response, and NAVCHETNA will become available throughout the country, and in multiple languages.The journey of NAVCHETNA began in the year 2019.
NAVCHETNA has been authored by Gary Reid, a public health and drug education expert with international experience, and Kalyani V, a life skills expert and trainer.
In the pilot phase of testing the materials, Master Trainers from three States and one Union Territory of North India (Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, and Chandigarh) were trained.The modules were also field-tested with students, medical doctors, nurses, counsellors, and special educators in New Delhi.
The Covid pandemic stalled the piloting phase, further refinement of the modules, and ongoing training for twenty-two months.
The process of resuming NAVCHETNA with refresher training of Master Trainers commenced in December 2021.
NAVCHETNA is a set of modules wherein teacher-trainers would be trained at the State, District, and school levels.
Coupled with this approach is the adoption of a strategy that ensures that a child or adolescent has someone to approach or talk to in the school if she/he is having problems with substance use.Currently, the modules are available in English and Hindi languages.
It is anticipated that various States in India will have modules contained in NAVCHETNA translated into their local languages to facilitate greater reach and wider transaction of content and messages.
Both volumes of NAVCHETNA have been professionally designed to make them user-friendly.