Teachers have been blamed for the record number of children prescribed ‘chemical cosh’ drugs such as Ritalin.Why? Are they prescribing them, then?
There are now some 650,000 eight to 13-year-olds on the drug or its equivalents.Notice it says ‘NHS figures’. Not ‘Department of Education’ figures.
This marks an astonishing rise, up from 92,700 in 1997 and just 9,000 in 1990, according to NHS figures.
Isn’t that a big enough clue?
Yesterday it emerged the vast majority of the children were given the potent drug on the instruction of their teacher.They won’t have been prescribed this drug just on the say-so of the teacher, or even of the p[aren’t, surely?
Russell Hobby, of head teachers’ union the NAHT, agreed it was an increasing problem but said issues in society as a whole, not teachers, were to blame.I’d take more notice of your bleating Russell old chum, if your members weren’t so keen to label children as racist bigots when they have no idea what they are saying…
He added: ‘It’s an increasing issue in our society. We label children as having medical conditions when they just have minor behavioural problems.’