JEDDAH, 11 January — In a bid to curtail smoking among youngsters in the Kingdom, the Ministry of Education is discussing the viability of shutting coffee shops in the forenoon hours, according to an Al-Watan report.
Education Minister Muhammad Al-Rasheed recently approved the recommendations of the committee appointed by the ministry to study the smoking habits among students and solutions to it. The committee comprised several departments in the ministry.
Saud Al-Asim, secretary general of the ministry’s Islamic awareness department, said the recommendations included the choosing of the most effective findings from the previous studies on the topic. The committee also sought the introduction of leisure-time activities, which would guarantee positive changes in the habits of youngsters. The committee decided to hold periodic meetings to follow up on the implementation of its recommendations and evaluate the results.
Asim said that his department would continue to follow up activities in collaboration with the Department of Student Activities. In addition to implementing the order of the higher authorities to ban smoking in offices, the school health department will highlight all the smoke-related health hazards. Teachers will be encouraged to participate in the campaign against smoking. The ministry will also seek the cooperation of the media in this matter.
In another development the education minister opened a central library at the ministry, said Ibrahim Al-Shuddi, undersecretary for cultural affairs in the ministry. The library, which has a section on the data on education in the Kingdom, will serve as a source on specialized data on educational matters.
Meanwhile a study, prepared by the executive bureau of the Gulf Health Ministers’ Council, said member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council imported more than 65 billion cigarettes worth $1.3 billion in 1998. Kuwait ranks the 19th among the world’s top tobacco consuming states.
A Kuwaiti smoker consumes 2,280 cigarettes a year, the study said. Saudi Arabia is ranked 23rd, with an average individual consumption of 2,130 cigarettes.
The price of a packet of cigarettes in the Gulf states is half its cost in the tobacco-manufacturing countries, the study said. The study also found that 52 percent of diseases in Kuwait are linked to smoking, while 38 percent in the Kingdom suffer smoke-related ailments.
While smoking causes death to 11,000 people in the world every day, 45 people die every day in the Gulf countries because of smoking, the study stated. The smoking habit is common among 40 percent men in the Gulf and 10 percent women. The study also noted that 15 percent of the youth, children, doctors and workers in the medical sector were smokers.
