Cigarettes under the spell around school
Schools in primary, secondary and secondary vocational education must be completely smoke-free by 2020. Many municipalities also want to make the streets around schools smoke-free. "The question is, of course, how are they going to enforce this?"
Picture: Type tank
It is crowded on the sidewalk in front of the Hogeschool Rotterdam. A group of students is puffing on this weekday Thursday morning. As of this academic year, the university of applied sciences should be completely smoke-free. “Students and staff must be able to reach classrooms and workplaces without experiencing the harmful effects of passive smoking,” explains spokesman Carmen Mo-Ajok. "That is why we have tightened our smoking policy."
In practice, that policy does not yet work. Although it is not possible to maintain the smoke-free schoolyard, educational institutions in Rotterdam are already going one step further. The Erasmus MC, the Erasmiaans Gymnasium and the Hogeschool Rotterdam want the nearby Zimmermanweg and Wytemaweg to be completely smoke-free.
Public places
Municipalities throughout the Netherlands are working on smoke-free zones, in public spaces and therefore also in schools. 47 municipalities, including almost all major cities, have joined the Smoke-Free Generation, an initiative of the Heart Foundation, the Dutch Cancer Society and the Lung Fund that aims to allow children to grow up smoke-free.
Groningen has also joined the Smoke-Free Generation. The municipality has expanded the General local ordinance (PV), so that nuisance caused by smoke (gases) can be prohibited from now on. Institutions can ask the municipality for permission to impose a smoking ban on adjacent municipal land.
Only 4 percent of ROCs have a completely smoke-free square
One of the institutions that wants to make use of this apv is Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen. After a transition year, the university of applied sciences wants to achieve a smoke-free campus, in collaboration with the University of Groningen. “In the transition phase, smoking is only allowed in designated areas,” says Marloes Heeres, marketing and communication advisor at Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen. "They are no longer so prominent in front of the entrance."
Colleges and universities are not required to have a smoke-free school grounds, but schools in primary, secondary and secondary vocational education are. They must be completely smoke-free by 2020. Research by the Mulier Institute shows that there is still something to be done before that goal is achieved. 53 percent of schools in secondary education are completely smoke-free. In primary education, this percentage is 78. At MBO schools, only 4 percent have a completely smoke-free schoolyard.
Enforcement
On the sidewalk in front of the Hogeschool Rotterdam, student Rabia Yildiz (21) takes a drag on her cigarette. “We used to be spread across the site and now everyone is together,” she says. A green stripe on the boundary between the schoolyard and the sidewalk indicates where the 'smoke-free schoolyard' begins. That line now serves more for decoration, because smoking is still taking place within the lines. Also by Rabia and her classmate Esma Yuzger (22). “The question is, of course, how are they going to enforce this,” says Esma.
Hogeschool Rotterdam has employed supervisors for a number of years. They have daily discussions with students and employees about compliance with the house rules, the smoking policy is part of this.
In Groningen they have a similar approach. “We talk to people about it and approach it positively, in any case we don't want to play a police officer,” says Heeres. "We want to make people aware that they smoke others." Not all students have a need to meddle with their health. "People also ask, can I no longer eat a croquette sandwich?" According to Heeres, that comparison is flawed, because with eating unhealthy food you only have yourself, while you also harm the health of others if you smoke.
Do students really talk to each other about their smoking behaviour? “We understand that addressing someone's behavior is difficult,” admits Mo-Ajok. According to her, it is mainly about making students aware of the effect of passive smoking. “Ask for a little understanding and not for rebuke.”
Rommel
There used to be smokehouses on the square of the Hogeschool Rotterdam, but they have now disappeared. That creates more clutter on the square, thinks student Rabia. "There are only two tiles here where you can put your cigarettes and as you can see, not everyone does that." Esma adds: "If you have smokehouses, you don't have all that junk either."
“I'll walk around the block for my cigarette,” says Rabia. Esma adds: "In the rain or in the cold, I already do that at home, because I don't want to smoke in the house, I don't let the weather stop me."
Rabia: “The ban is more effective in secondary school, because you are not allowed to smoke there. Here they light a cigarette, we are adults. ”
