The Department of Education is preparing to make institutions tobacco-free

Under the chairmanship of Umashankar Singh, Secretary, School Education and Literacy Department, a review meeting of ‘Youth No Tobacco Campaign 2.0’ was organized on Saturday with nodal officers of education department of all districts and other officials involved under the joint aegis of the School. Department of Education and Literacy, Government of Jharkhand and Socio-Economic and Educational Development Society (SEEDS) to make all the educational institutions of the State tobacco free and also for the implementation of the guidelines of the Educational Institution Free Tobacco (ToFEI).

During the meeting, State Education Project Director Shashi Ranjan said, “It is the responsibility of all of us to keep youth and minors away from tobacco addiction as we worry about our future. Under the direction of Department of School Education and Literacy, Socio-Economic and Educational Development Society (SEEDS) Jharkhand is making positive efforts to implement them as per ‘Tobacco Free Educational Institutions (ToFEI)’ guidelines.

Jharkhand Education Project Board Administrative Officer Sachidan and Dwivendu Tigga welcomed all the participants and spoke about the objective of the workshop. In his speech, he said that the habit of tobacco consumption is consolidating globally as a major problem for public health. Therefore, it is very important to make minors and young people aware of the harmful effects of tobacco use. Tigga also said that in collaboration with SEEDS Jharkhand, all educational institutions in the state will be developed as tobacco-free educational institutions by the Department of School Education and Literacy.

SEEDS Executive Director Deepak Mishra elaborated on the need for a tobacco control program and said that tobacco use remains a matter of concern for the entire world. “But their trade and use is increasing faster in developing countries than in developed countries. Children, minors and youth need to be protected from tobacco products. Data related to tobacco use by young people everywhere of the world compiled by the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (2019) show that in India, 8.5 percent of children under the age of 13-15 use some form of tobacco, while in Jharkhand it is 5 .1 percent, which is worrying.”

“In the last 8-9 years, the Government of Jharkhand and SEEDS together have taken effective measures to control tobacco consumption at the state and district levels. The result of these efforts was seen in the GATES 2 report, according to which the percentage of tobacco users in our State had dropped from 50.1% to 38.9%. But we are still far above the national average (28.6%),” Mishra also stated.

“Around 13 thousand people die in the country every year due to tobacco use. Children, minors and youth especially need to be protected from tobacco use. It is often seen that tobacco products like cigarettes, bidi, pan masala, zarda and khaini are sold near various educational institutions of the State.This promotes smoking and tobacco consumption among the youth.Minors and youth are the target of tobacco based industries and this is a serious problem for us,” Mishra said.

In the meeting, Secretary of School Education and Literacy Department, Umashankar Singh, State Education Project Director Shashi Ranjan, SEEDS Executive Director, Deepak Mishra, State Education Project Administrative Officer, Sachidan and Dwivendu Tigga, Sub-Divisional Education Officer and State Nodal Officer Abhishek Jha and other nodal officers of Education Department from all districts participated in the workshop.