Pupils will not be allowed to smoke inside their school premises, despite the terrorist threat.
Cigarette breaks will not be allowed inside the high schools. The risk of a terrorist attack linked to the gatherings in front of the establishments had already led the authorities to ask themselves the question of a lifting of the ban last year. At the start of the 2017 school year, the subject was once again put on the table, in particular by school principals who fear for the safety of their high schools.
Earlier in the week, an interministerial meeting was held with the Minister of Health, Agnès Buzyn, the Minister of the Interior, Gérard Collomb, and the Minister of National Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer. It was a question of possibly relaxing the legislation to leave the freedom to the principals to choose. In 2016, around a hundred high schools had already disobeyed the Evin law and the Bertrand decree which sanctify the tobacco-free school.
“No way”
But quickly, anti-smoking associations stepped up to denounce the strong contradiction between the efforts to reduce smoking among young people and the return of cigarette breaks in high schools. The question agitated the government for several days, torn between health and security arguments. Finally, Matignon ruled, The ban on smoking in middle and high schools will remain strictly applied.
“At a time when the government is going to launch a campaign to fight against smoking, and while security around establishments has been reinforced as part of the new Vigipirate Attacks posture, there is no question of weakening the decree of November 15, 2006 which prohibits smoking inside establishments, ”the Prime Minister’s office told AFP.
In the morning, this Monday, Gérard Collomb spoke on this thorny question. “The best, he said on Public Senate, is not to smoke too much. We carry out campaigns all year round, doctors are mobilizing ”. And yet, “we must try to avoid crowds”; in 2016, one in five students was a smoker. One solution could be to “strengthen the limited devices” to block any vehicles launched at high speed, “he added.
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