Mumbai : According to the directives of the state government, all the schools in Mumbai should be tobacco-free; however, in a survey conducted by the Salaam Bombay Foundation, it has been revealed that only two BMC schools including Hari Nagar Urdu School and Maniklal Mehta School in Ghatkopar in Mumbai have been following the directives whereas others have failed to do so.
The criteria to be tobacco-free schools includes no smoking or chewing of tobacco inside the premises of institution by students/ teachers/ other staff members / visitors and display of sign boards “No Smoking Area- Smoking here is an offence” of 60X30cm size inside the institutions.
The foundation has revealed that 234 schools out of 13,220 schools in 30 districts of Maharashtra have been made tobacco-free and relentless effort is being made to achieve tobacco-free status for the remaining schools as well.
Every day, 5,500 youths try tobacco for the first time in India and 14.6% of the youth (13-15 years) consume tobacco in some form.
