The school is an extremely important but as increasingly becoming evident, not really a safe zone for young and impressionable students.
Baring the truly horrific acts that we have seen being committed in school recently, there is also bullying, lack of education control and many other issues that plague our school system.
However, the Delhi state government, in a bid to improve the education sector of the city has announced that schools which are not tobacco-free can be at the risk of losing their CBSE affiliation.
As a way to make the school environment and surroundings safer and cleaner, the Delhi State Tobacco Control Department has requested CBSE and the Director of Education that they withdraw their affiliation from schools that do not comply with such rules.
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What Does The Decision Mean?
Basically, the reason why such harsh measures are being taken is because of the alarming increase in the use of tobacco products by school students. As per an article by Times Now, almost 14.1% of students till the age of 15 could be at this point in time using tobacco items.
Also, the tobacco shops that can usually be found around the school campus, lend towards easy access to such forbidden products and in a small manner could be adding to environmental pollution.
According to the rules, it is the schools’ responsibility to make sure that there are no shops selling tobacco or tobacco using products within at least a 100-meter radius of the campus.
The schools as per the guidelines will also be required to have a ‘no smoking’ sign placed on the premise along with a sign of the campus being completely tobacco-free zone. These signs are also supposed to have the name and contact information of a nodal officer who can be contacted in case of any lapse in following the rules.
The strict action of taking away CBSE recognition is due to the recent raids that have found that almost 10 to 15% of schools in Delhi are not following these rules properly.
Apart from all this, schools are also encouraged to hold tobacco awareness drives at least 1 day every month and form a tobacco-free committee in the school.
Why Is The CBSE Recognition So Important For Schools?
CBSE board lends a lot of credibility to schools, raises the school ranking and being a nationally and even internationally recognized organization, can be extremely helpful to students during their further studies.
The fact that a school has had their CBSE recognition taken away will be a matter of public humiliation and work as evidence that the school is not a good enough one. Which could lead to parents opting for another school that is affiliated to CBSE.
Image Credits: Google Images
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