THE IMFree campaign to prevent smoking among primary school children should also have materials in Chinese to make it easier for Chinese schools to incorporate the programme into their curriculum, academics said.

IMFree is an education and prevention of smoking programme aimed at pupils from Years 1 to 6, which is being run with full government support.

It is currently implemented in 140 schools across the country with the campaign materials in Bahasa Malaysia.

National Union of Heads of Schools president Chuah Soo Cheng said having the materials in Chinese is ideal as there are about 1,300 Chinese primary schools in the country.

The Chinese version, she said, would help pupils in Years 1 to 3 understand what the programme is all about.

“The programme is to convey to these pupils that smoking is not only prohibited for them while they are in school but also bad for their health,” Chuah told The Malaysian Insight.

She said a Chinese version of the literature would help these children greatly as their grasp of the Malay language is not yet strong.

She also urged parents to play a more active role in preventing their school-going children from picking up the habit.

She said parents are the key in the many campaigns and programmes, such as IMFree, to stop students from picking up the habit as they have a strong influence on what their children will do.

Chuah said the schools could provide the necessary support, guidance and resources to parents, such as having experience-sharing sessions at parent-teacher meetings, providing parents with the resources and latest information on smoking on school websites and hooking them up with local health authorities to help them better understand the dangers of smoking.

She said the revelation by Deputy Health Minister Lukanisman Awang Sauni that 43,360 primary and secondary school students have tobacco addiction is a cause for concern.

When a school finds a student who smokes, it can take action to deal with the problem, which is deemed as indiscipline, Chuah said.

The first is to issue a warning to the student. If the student continues to smoke, the school would then inform his or her parents or guardians, she said.

Chuah said the school would provide support to the student’s parents to get their child to quit before the school resorts to disciplinary action.

“Some schools offer quit smoking programmes or guidance and encourage students and parents to seek medical help,” she said.

Chuah said, however, the approach varies from school to school and from state to state.

‘Smoking is bad’

Chairman of the Penang branch of the National Association of Chinese Primary School Principals, Chew Eng Hock, said students lighting up could be due to them going through a rebellious phase in life.

He said peer pressure and influence also played a part.

He said schools have always played their part in sending the message that smoking is bad.

“Schools often deliver the message of healthy living at events and assemblies,” he said.

Former deputy health minister Lee Boon Chye, who promoted the no-smoking regulation in restaurants, said when a person is hooked on smoking, it might be difficult to get them to quit.

Smoking addiction is different from other addictions, he said.

Lee said smoking among students is a “really worrying” trend and pointed to the National Youth Tobacco and E-Cigarette survey, which showed that many young people became hooked from exposure to e-cigarettes and cigarettes.

The responsibility of disseminating the anti-smoking message to students lies with the parents first, then the school and the Health Ministry, he said.

“The Health Ministry should continue to conduct health awareness and healthy living programmes in schools, and even universities,” he said.

On April 4, the Health Ministry adopted statistics from the Kotak programme, which showed that 43,019 of the 1.3 million secondary school students screened were addicted to cigarettes.

Kotak is the acronym for “Kesihatan Oral Tanpa Asap Rokok”. This is an early smoking detection and intervention programme designed for all primary and secondary school children throughout the country.

Lukanisman said the screening of two million primary school children during the same period showed 341 were found to have smoked.

He said the students identified as smokers have undergone a programme to wean them off tobacco, while those who do not smoke will receive ongoing health education to ensure they remain non-smokers.

In addition, he said, the ministry will continue to strengthen and expand the “No Smoking Generation” campaign to ensure that the new generation remains smoke-free for life.

The campaign has been implemented in 19 universities and colleges in the country and promoted by the Higher Education Ministry in collaboration with the Volunteer Foundation. – April 13, 2023.