Smoking Among the Youth in Saudi Arabia - Essay Example

In the school, students as young as 14 years old are allowed to smoke between lessons (Dawar, par 1). According to the school administrators, their strategy “is meant to help pupils stop smoking and reduce confrontations with teachers” (Dawar, par 3). Furthermore, their aim is to expose the problem and inform the children’s parents and eventually move them to the smoking cessation program. The policy of this school has been questioned by both the teachers’ unions and several anti-smoking groups.

One does not agree with the school’s practice of allowing their young students to smoke within the school premises. Aside from the detrimental health effects on the students, both smokers and non-smokers, it might also encourage other students to smoke since it is allowed anyway. Non-smoking children will be exposed to second-hand smoke which is harmful to their health (Smoking.ygoy.com, par 2). Moreover, since children tend to imitate adults, the younger population of the school might imitate the older school children who smoke.

There are so many options available for schools in trying to prevent smoking among the young and the method that the Tinshill Learning Centre implemented is simply not acceptable. It encourages smoking more than discouraging it. Works Cited Dawar, Anil. "The school where smoking is allowed." 19 October 2006. telegraph.co.uk. Web. 5 November 2012 <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1531821/The-school-where-smoking-is-allowed.html>. Smoking.ygoy.com. "Why smoking should be banned in schools?" n.d. smoking.ygoy.com. Web.

5 November 2012 <http://smoking.ygoy.com/2008/03/11/why-smoking-should-be-banned-in-schools/>.