Top Cape Town high school battling with vaping crisis among pupils
Westerford High School in Cape Town admits it’s battling to contain a growing vaping crisis among its pupils.
Westerford High School in Cape Town admits it’s battling to contain a growing vaping crisis among its pupils.
An unexpected consequence of students vaping in recent weeks has been blocked drains caused by discarded e-cigarettes.
Westerford principal Mark Smith confirmed in an interview with Cape Talk presenter Lester Kiewit that the school recently recovered as many as 50 vapes from a drain.
Smith believes that in an attempt to evade detection, students have been tossing their vapes into the school’s drainage system.
The school has a strict ‘no-vaping’ policy, but it clearly remains a problem.
“We’re obviously trying to do our best to stem the tide. We have said it’s something we’ll police and patrol, but the figures just seem too high. We can’t stop everybody and check,” Smith said in the interview.
“We have a wand that we use to pick up vapes and we are allowed to legally search if we have reasonable suspicion, but knowing what is in that vape is another story.
“I hear that there are vapes that have dagga in it.”
Smith added that many of the devices are odour-free, and learners are using them inside the classroom.
“You can get away with it very easily, and you don’t see it,” Smith concluded.
Click to listen to the full interview
Survey results
Meanwhile, a recent UCT-led study found that vaping among South African pupils is still highly prevalent.
Over 25 000 high school students across 52 schools in eight provinces were surveyed.
The results showed that an estimated 16.83% of the sampled learners currently use e-cigarettes.
Many of these pupils surveyed for the study said they vape to manage stress.
About 47% admitted reaching for a vape within an hour of waking up, suggesting a level of addiction or dependence to the nicotine.
Of those surveyed, 45.8% identify as female, 51.7% male, 0.3% transgender, while 2.1% do not identify with a gender.
Do you believe vaping at school level is a problem?
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