Instructions issued to make Punjab educational institutions completely tobacco free

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab school education department has re-issued instructions to make the schools and educational institutions completely tobacco free.

According to a spokesperson of the school education department, on the basis of the guidelines received from the government of India to make schools and educational institutions tobacco free, the director general of the school education department issued a letter in this regard to all the district education officers and school heads. The Punjab school education department has already taken strict steps to make schools and surroundings tobacco free. The Punjab government has already banned the tobacco products like gutkha and pan masala. Based on the new guidelines of the Government of India, the department of school education has again issued instructions to make schools completely tobacco free.

According to the spokesperson, the latest guidelines issued by the Government of India state that tobacco-related deaths are on the rise worldwide and these deaths can be avoided. The Global Youth Tobacco Survey (2009) has reported that 14.6 per cent of students between the ages of 13 and 15 in India use tobacco in one form or another. After this the Global Audit Tobacco Survey 2016-17 found that 28.6 per cent of people aged 15 years and above in India use tobacco which is having a detrimental effect on public health. Due to the ill effects of tobacco, the government launched the National Tobacco Control Program in 2007-08 with an emphasis on educating school children. The Punjab school education department already has been educating the students about the ill effect of tobacco.