Indore: Four girls students from St Raphael’s HS School were found smoking outside the school at DharKothi milk parlour, aka Sanchi point. The incident was reported by a worried citizen to school authorities and asked to check for girls regularly found smoking at the point.
“I did not go and check the point, but I did send the girls to the school counsellor,” school principal SrPreethi Thomas said. Interacting with counsellor, three girls confessed smoking at the parlour. “However, the girls assured us that it was their first time and felt guilty for doing the same,” Preethi said. The three girls supported the fourth one quoting that she was there but did not smoke.
Principal called parents of girls to schools and talked about the matter. “I talked about the matter and asked them to even take corrective actions,” Preethi said. While two parents agreed with the decision of suspending students as punishment, parent of the third girl felt it was too late to punish girls, as shared by school principal.
“I decided to suspend them with a warning for a week, because exams are approaching and we cannot risk them failing an exam due to suspension,” Preethi said. She added that suspending was must, otherwise other students are likely to follow the example and the students brought disrepute to the institute by smoking in front of the school in uniform.
Talking about the milk parlour, Preethi said, “According to Central Board of Secondary Education rule, there should be no such shops in 100 metre radius of an educational institute, so technically having this shop is not right.” However, the school has not reported the shop to any authorities.
Prohibition rule
According to Section 6 of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply, and Distribution) Act (COTPA), 2003, the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products within a 100-yard radius of educational institutions is illegal.
Further, the act states that tobacco products cannot be sold to person below the age of 18 years, and in places within 100 metres radius from the outer boundary of an institution of education, which includes school colleges and institutions of higher learning established or recognised by an appropriate authority.