Under the chairmanship of Umashankar Singh, Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy, a review meeting of ‘Tobacco Free Youth Campaign 2.0’ was organised on Saturday with nodal officers of education department from all districts and other concerned officials under the joint aegis of School Education and Literacy Department, Government of Jharkhand and Socio Economic and Educational Development Society (SEEDS) for making all educational institutions of the State tobacco free and also for implementation of Tobacco Free Educational Institution (ToFEI) guidelines.
During the meeting, State Education Project Director Shashi Ranjan said, “It is the responsibility of all of us to keep the youth and minors away from tobacco addiction while worrying about our future. Under the guidance of the Department of School Education and Literacy, Socio Economic and Educational Development Society (SEEDS) Jharkhand is making positive efforts for implementation in accordance with the guidelines of "Tobacco Free Educational Institutions (ToFEI).”
Administrative Officer, Jharkhand Education Project Council, Sachidanand Dwivendu Tigga welcomed all the participants and spoke about the objective of the workshop. In his address, he said that the habit of tobacco consumption is emerging globally as a major problem for public health. Therefore, it is very important to spread awareness among minors and youth about the ill effects of tobacco consumption. Tigga also said that in collaboration with SEEDS Jharkhand, all the educational institutions of the State will be developed as tobacco free educational institutions by the Department of School Education and Literacy.
Executive Director of SEEDS, Deepak Mishra discussed in detail about the need for tobacco control program and said that the use of tobacco remains a matter of concern for the whole world. “But its business and use is increasing more rapidly in developing countries than in developed countries. There is a need to protect children, minors and youth from tobacco products. The data related to tobacco consumption by youth across the world compiled by the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (2019) shows that in India, 8.5 percent of minor children aged 13-15 years are using some form of tobacco, while in Jharkhand it is 5.1 percent, which is a matter of concern.”
“In the last 8-9 years, Jharkhand Government and SEEDS together have taken effective steps to control tobacco consumption at the State and district level. The result of those efforts was seen in the GATES 2 report, according to which the percentage of tobacco users in our State had come down from 50.1% to 38.9%. But we are still much above the national average (28.6%),” also stated Mishra.
“About 13 lakh people are dying in the country every year due to tobacco consumption. There is a need to protect children, minors and youth especially from tobacco consumption. It is often seen that tobacco products such as cigarettes, bidi, pan masala, zarda and khaini are sold near various educational institutions of the State. This promotes addiction to smoking and tobacco consumption among young youth and students. Minors and youth are the target of tobacco based trade and industries and this is a serious problem for us,” Mishra further stated.
In the meeting, Secretary, School Education and Literacy Department, Umashankar Singh, State Education Project Director Shashi Ranjan, Executive Director of SEEDS, Deepak Mishra, Administrative Officer of State Education Project, Sachidanand Dwivendu Tigga, Sub-divisional Education Officer cum State Nodal Officer Abhishek Jha, and other nodal officers of the Education Department of all the districts participated in the workshop.
