On
March 3, 2016, and in the presence of Mr. Abderrahmane MAAROUFI,
Director of the Directorate of Epidemiology and Fighting against
Diseases at the Ministry of Health and Mr. Youssef CHAMI, Representative
of Lalla Salma Foundation against cancer, Mr. Youssef BELKASSMI,
General Secretary of the Ministry of National Education and Vocational
Training chaired at the Center of Trainings and National Forums in Rabat
the opening of the activities of the study day related to the
implementation of the program of “smoking-free lower secondary and high
schools” in the regional academies of education and training. This is a
joint program between the Ministry of National Education and Vocational
Training and the Ministry of Health, and it is supported by Lalla Salma
Foundation against cancer.
In
his word, Mr. BELQASMI said that the Ministry of National Education and
Vocational Training and its partners adopted the program of
“smoking-free lower secondary and high schools”, which was launched in
2007 in three regional academies and then gradually generalized to
include all academies, in order to make students aware of the dangers of
smoking and help those wishing to quit it by involving the educational
and administrative staff. The Ministry also created health clubs inside
schools as these constitute spaces of raising awareness and preventing
drug abuse, smoking and anything likely to harm the health of our
youths.
In
this context, the General Secretary emphasized the necessity of
animating the program and actively contributing to the implementation of
the scheduled action plans, together with providing the necessary
support to achieve the expected targets. This can be carried out through
generalizing the program to include all lower secondary and high
schools. He expressed his gratitude to the material, moral and technical
efforts made by Lalla Salma Foundation against cancer to make this
program successful, as well as the efforts of the Ministry of Health,
the players of the educational field and all the partners of the
educational institutions.
Mr.
Abderrahmane MAAROUFI, Director of the Directorate of Epidemiology and
Fighting against Diseases, pointed out that the Ministry of Health
prepared a national program to fight against smoking and reduce its
spread proportion among the youths. The strategy of this plan is based
on three points:
- Raising awareness about the dangers of smoking;
- Developing and providing health services at the health centers to help smokers quit smoking;
- Developing
legal texts to provide people with an environment that protects them
against smoking and reduces the spread of the latter.
He
also appreciated the efforts made by the Ministry of National Education
and Vocational Training at the level of fighting against smoking and
raising awareness about its dangers among students through the program
of smoking-free lower secondary and high schools.
It
is worth mentioning that the opening of this study day was marked by
the awards ceremony for the winners of the health clubs’ national
competition for the academic year 2014-2015. The school of Ben Tayb in
Driouech, regional academy of education and training at the Region of
the Oriental, won the first award for the lower secondary level, while
Ait Baha school, Souss-Massa regional academy, won the first award of
the secondary high schools.
In
addition to this, the national competition of the best painting and
photograph about the prevention of the first cigarette was launched.
The
Ministry of Health and the Ministry of National Education and
Vocational Training, with the technical and logistical support of Lalla
Salma Foundation against cancer, had carried out an evaluation study
about the implementation of the program of smoking-free lower secondary
and high schools at the level of the region previously named
Gharb-Chrarda-Beni Hssen. After presenting the results of this study and
as part of the program of smoking-free lower secondary and high
schools, the participants in the study day showed the experiments of the
regional academies of education and training as well as the focal
points of the annual action plan for the year 2015-2016. These
experiments showed several strong points and difficulties, as well as
the challenges that hindered the implementation of this program, namely
the characteristics of each region and its demographical and cultural
nature, as well as its potentials and resources.
Some
recommendations and practical suggestions were shared regarding the way
to overcome these challenges in order to improve the performance of the
program coordinators and ensure a broader participation of
institutions, partners and players. Speakers unanimously agreed that the
following points are necessary:
- Organizing
training sessions for the program coordinators and generalizing the
training of teachers and physicians at the health centers on fighting
against smoking;
- Providing all the necessary resources, both
human and logistical, to implement the activities in such a way that
these achieve their targets;
- Encouraging the leading experiments
and granting recognition certificates to the educational institutions
that are efficiently involved in the program;
- Encouraging the students through organizing competitions and granting prizes and recognition certificates;
- Organizing
awareness meetings for the health clubs directors and hosts in order to
ensure their active participation in the program;
- Involving the
civil society through partnerships and projects with, in particular,
the institutions where smoking is strongly present.
This
study day was attended by central directors, some directors of regional
academies of education and training, provincial directors and
physicians from the regional academies. The activities of this day were
coordinated by Dr. Wafaa BENZAOUIA, Head of the School Health Department
at the Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training.
