GOVERNMENT INVESTS GREATLY IN EDUCATION - LEHOHLA | |
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The Deputy Prime Minister said as a result, pupils should also take life seriously and make most of life by aiming high. Mr. Lehohla appealed to students not to expose themselves to smoke as smoking destroys life. On the competition itself, Mr Lehohla said it is important as it provides guidance to students on how they can avoid smoking. The Minister of Education added that one of the challenges facing the youth of today is HIV\AIDS, which he said kills many of them. He said it is disturbing to see the lives of young wasted away by this disease and appealed to the youth not to engage in sexual activities before marriage. He also appealed to parents who engage in sex with the youth to stop doing so, saying it is wrong as youth look up to them for guidance. On behalf of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Mr. Malekele Phori said the spectacular rise and spread of tobacco consumption around the world is a challenge and opportunity for WHO. He said the challenge comes in seeking global solutions for problems that cut across national boundaries, cultures, societies and socio economic strata. Mr. Phori said there are four million unnecessary deaths a year, 11, 000 per day caused by tobacco. Mr. Phori added that it is rate, it is not possible to find examples in history that match tobacco's programmed trail of death and destruction. He said a long- term tobacco user has a 50 percent
chance of dying prematurely from tobacco-caused diseases. He added that
because tobacco products are carefully designed to undermine efforts to
quit, quitting is not simply a matter of choice for the majority of tobacco
users, instead it involves a struggle to overcome addiction. Ten high
schools competed in the finals of anti smoke competitions, where | |
| SOURCE: LENA |