Desk Report,
Cigarette shop near school in Dhaka disrupts learning environment
1:45 pm. Shyamoli’s Government Zamila Ainul Anand Vidyalaya is closed. Four students of class 10 were sitting in front of the school and eating fuchka. There are paan-bidi-cigarette shops next to it. Smokers of all ages, from teenagers to the elderly, are smoking openly in front of the school. The students expressed their anger over this. They said that the school and Shyamoli Park are surrounded by tea and cigarette shops. Cigarettes are sold openly from morning to night. There is bad talk. They do not want to see a cigarette shop in front of the school.
Cigarette shop near school in Dhaka disrupts learning environment
Yesterday, Sunday and last May 4, when visiting Shyamoli, Farmgate, Mirpur, Mohammadpur and Dhanmondi areas of the capital, it was seen that tea, cigarette and paan shops have been set up within 100 yards of the educational institution, occupying the sidewalk. A booming business is going on to get benches on the sidewalk.
Yesterday, three students of class 7 were standing in front of the Shyamoli government school. After school, the students of the school played football and cricket in the Shyamoli Park field. They said that the environment of Shyamoli Park is also being ruined due to the gathering of smokers.
There are separate play areas for children and adults in the park. There is a good seating arrangement for women. There is also a gallery for sitting and enjoying games. But the cigarette and tobacco shops and the gathering of scoundrels around the school and park are disrupting the educational and entertainment environment of the area.
According to the guidelines for the implementation of the Tobacco Control Act of the existing local government in the country, the sale of tobacco products is prohibited within 100 meters of educational institutions. However, cigarettes are being sold freely around educational institutions throughout Dhaka city.
When asked about this, Sardar Atiq, assistant professor of the Department of Psychiatry at Bangladesh Medical University, told Prothom Alo, “Children and adolescents are imitators. When they come out of school or playgrounds or parks, they see adults smoking openly, this scene can affect the child’s mind and make them interested in smoking. Another thing is that students can get cigarettes at hand. “Because of this, many students may become addicted to smoking, even out of curiosity.”