I REFER to the report “Help to kick the habit” (NST, Oct 4) on teens and the smoking syndrome.

Smoking among schoolchildren needs to be looked at with greater urgency.

A survey has revealed that there are a few thousand schoolchildren lighting up each year for the first time.

What is worrying is that students as young as 10 years old are smoking. Female students are also puffing away.

The report says those between the ages of 13 and 15 form the highest percentage of teenage smokers in Malaysia.

Smoking used to be a common disciplinary problem in secondary schools but now it is not surprising to find smoking as a disciplinary problem in primary schools, too. Students in school uniforms smoke discreetly in public places.

They hide the cigarette within their palms and take quick puffs when no one is watching.

Some students who are addicted to cigarettes smoke outside their school gates before entering the school.

The hardcore smoker cannot be bothered with school rules and lights up in the school toilet.

A concerted effort is needed by the authorities to tackle the smoking scourge among students.

Schools have to be more stringent in their checks on students who smoke in school and outside. Teachers have to be more vigilant of such students.

There are many tell-tale signs of students who smoke, which can be used as indicators to haul up the smokers.

Their lips are dark, their breath has a nauseating odour of tobacco and their uniforms, too, smell of tobacco.

Many prefects and students know of friends who smoke but do not report them to the teachers for fear of getting into trouble.

Anti-smoking campaigns and health talks by hospital authorities should be organised regularly to educate students in schools about the dangers of smoking.

Students have to be made to realise that smoking has been deemed a chronic illness and that death occurs after a number of years of smoking.

Gory pictures and graphic images of the effects of smoking on smokers must be shown to the students.

Police and enforcement officers should nab students who smoke and detain them in the police station.

They should call their parents and slap them with a heavy fine and warning.

Parents of students who smoke have also to be hauled up and given a severe warning.

It is baffling how parents can be unaware of their children’s habits. Or have they given up on their children?

SAMUEL YESUIAH, Seremban

Source: NST – October 10, 2008