Schools fight vaping by using lessons and student ambassadors

MOE has also issued all schools with a science package with anti-vaping content

- Elisha Tushara Correspondent

All schools have received a science package with anti-vaping materials to be shared with students — including content about etomidate, a harmful substance found in many e-vaporisers — as part of the Ministry of Education’s (MOE) efforts to support the national anti-vaping drive.

Also, in Character and Citizenship Education (CCE) lessons, secondary school students will discuss the negative and long-term impacts of vaping, as a means to control their impulse to engage in risky behaviours such as smoking and vaping.

Student leaders have also been trained to encourage their peers to embrace a vape-free lifestyle.

The anti-vaping education efforts go hand in hand with stiffer measures against students caught for vaping offences, which Education Minister Desmond Lee announced on Aug 28 at a press conference regarding the whole-of-government commitment to tackle vaping.

Between 2022 and 2024, about 3,100 students were caught for vaping offences each year in primary and secondary schools, junior colleges and the Millennia Institute.

At the post-secondary level, around 800 students were caught annually across the Institute of Technical Education, five polytechnics and six autonomous universities.

This is a sharp rise from the fewer than 50 cases across schools and institutes of higher learning before 2020.

An MOE spokesman said the increase was due to intensified enforcement.

SHARING KNOWLEDGE THROUGH SCIENCE AND CCE LESSONS

MOE said a science package with anti-vaping content was shared with all schools in September.

Apart from updated information about etomidate and its harmful effects on the body, the package also covers new content on the science behind addiction.

The ministry said this is to help students understand how vaping can lead to dependency, and to provide practical guidance to teach students to say no to vaping.