Aconcagua Radio: The DGE is conducting a provincial census to develop online gambling prevention strategies.

Mendoza is in the final stretch of an unprecedented provincial census on online gambling among adolescents. The initiative, carried out by the Directorate of School Support (DAE) through its observatory, covered all public and private secondary schools, as well as youth and adult education programs. "It's a fairly representative, very broad sample," confirmed Carina Gannam, Director of School Support for the DGE , and announced that the results will be announced in the coming days by the Minister of Education, Tadeo García Salazar .

This information will allow us to "develop precise strategies, tailored to each context and reality," as the specific problems vary across the province's regions. The concern is palpable, as "in recent years, everything related to technology and adolescent access to online gaming and betting platforms has multiplied," which "concerns families, schools, and health professionals."

One of the main challenges, according to the DAE, is that "technology arrives before us with the precise approaches to these problems." Therefore, the focus is on prevention , which is "the most important thing in this entire context." To achieve this, it is essential "to know both within the educational community, including families, how to address it, and, above all, how to detect it."

There's often a difficulty in identifying the problem. "Some families' responses, 'No, my child doesn't gamble,' or teachers' responses, 'No, I don't see that as a problem,' have to do with the difficulty in identifying whether a child or adolescent is gambling," explains the DAE. Emphasis is placed on the need to understand the indicators and differentiate between gambling and betting. "Gambling isn't wrong; it's wrong when it goes beyond the limits of responsible use and becomes consumption."

It is crucial to understand that in adolescents, because these are "developmental stages in full development and maturation," we do not speak directly of gambling addiction in the clinical sense of adult addiction. Instead, the term "problematic consumption" is used.

"Problematic consumption, a consumption problem," they point out, "means that you are exceeding your limits because we are seeing certain signs or symptoms that indicate something isn't right." Some of these warning signs may include:

• Insomnia or sleep disorders.
• Absenteeism or poor academic performance.
• Distancing of ties and peers.
• Social withdrawal, withdrawal from activities.
• Irritability or increased anxiety.

These are indicators that "are telling us that something is happening," and that should lead to a deeper observation.

To address this problem, the School Support Department is training teachers and working on preventive measures so they can identify these warning signs. They also have technical teams throughout the province, made up of psychologists, educational psychologists, and social workers, who provide support in schools. "We alert when we see any signs of bullying, or when the teacher or adolescents themselves identify them, talking about their classmates," they report.

In cases of problematic substance use, the DAE has a specific area staffed by specialized professionals who "bring the school and each of the proposed schools closer to work, not only with the student but also with the family." Parents who need to contact these professionals can do so through each school's principal, where they will be provided with the contact information and a fixed schedule assigned to the DAE professional, or directly through the School Support Department, whose contact information is available on the educational portal.

Finally, regarding the debate on cell phone use in the classroom, the DAE points out that "it's not about banning it." The approach is more conceptual, seeking to "stimulate, in any case, critical thinking to educate about risk." The goal is for young people to be able to manage their adult lives autonomously, and a total ban would not necessarily address the underlying problem, since "the symptom will appear elsewhere, in another context." The key is support and education, in a "collaborative and coordinated" effort between the school and families .

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