The Zimbabwe Civil Liberties and Drug Network (ZCLDN) has noted with grave concern disturbing videos and pictures of students mostly in high schools smoking marijuana amid reports they are also engaging in unprotected sex, and drinking alcohol.
Schools reopened last week after they were closed for nearly six months to curb the spread of Covid-19.
However, learning at most schools has been affected as teachers have gone on strike since reopening demanding better salaries.
This has left pupils exposed as most schools have no adequate teachers to monitor the activities of the students.
Most affected schools are boarding learning institutions.
Depressing reports and pictures from the schools reveal how students who are expected to write public examinations next month have been left to indulge in risky sexual, drinking and drug taking behaviours.
In one of the disturbing video circulating widely on social media, two girls in school uniform are filmed smoking marijuana and boasting in the local Shona language that this is what books were now used for.
Other reports suggest that there is a lot of bullying in the schools against students who decline to join the rowdy gangs.
“As ZCLDN, we are calling on the government through the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education to urgently look into these allegations.
“What is happening in the schools has the potential to harm the future of thousands of young learners as all the activities they are engaging in are harmful.
“There is a need to find an urgent solution and put an immediate stop to the vices happening in our schools. Our children need to be protected at all costs and an urgent end to these shenanigans has to be made, the ZCLDN said in a statement.