The number of children excluded from Kent's schools for drug and alcohol-related incidents has almost doubled >over the last five years.

Figures obtained by KentOnline through a Freedom of Information request show that 1,738 pupils have been suspended or expelled from the county’s schools for drugs and alcohol since 2004. Thirty four of them were primary school students.

Kent County Council statistics also show a 97 per cent increase in the number of exclusions between the 2004/2005 academic year and 2008/2009.

Robert Stracker, county secretary for the National Association of Headteachers, said he was not surprised by the statistics. But he insisted schools were not responsible for the problem: "Schools reflect society. You go into a town centre and what do you see? You see youngsters alcohol-fuelled or drug addicted.

"Every school in the country talks about drugs and alcohol as a matter of course. I don’t know a school that doesn’t treat these sorts of things very seriously but very sensitively and carefully as well."

Chris Berry, acting head of Kent’s Attendance and Behaviour Service, said the majority of exclusions related to smoking and that numbers were beginning to drop: "We have seen a significant improvement in the 2008/2009 figures which we are very pleased about, but certainly not complacent about.

"We have produced a draft action plan which looks at the delivery of high quality drugs, alcohol and tobacco education within schools and a more effective way of managing those incidents."