Between a puff and a Kalashnikov
Fighting for the right to smoke at school
WHEN France imposed a state of emergency in November, following the terror attacks in Paris, it implied some constraints on liberty. But the freedom to smoke was probably not one many observers had in mind. Fully 32% of French 17-year-olds admit that they smoke daily, and by law pupils can do so only outside school premises. Yet head teachers now fret that, by letting them out of the school gates during the day to light up, they face a greater threat: terrorism.
Improbable as it seems, the country’s biggest head-teachers’ union, SNPDEN-Unsa, wrote last month to the prime minister, Manuel Valls, demanding clarification. Did the ban still apply under the state of emergency, as the health ministry insisted? Or, given the security risk of gathering on the pavement, could head teachers make an exception, as the education ministry seemed to suggest, and allow smoking on school grounds? This, argued some, was the lesser danger. “Between a cigarette and a Kalashnikov, the risk is not the same,” said Michel Richard, a head teacher at the union.
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline "Between a puff and a Kalashnikov"
More from Europe
“Our Europe can die”: Macron’s dire message to the continent
Institutions are not for ever, after all
Carbon emissions are dropping—fast—in Europe
Thanks to a price mechanism that actually works
Italy’s government is trying to influence the state-owned broadcaster
Giorgia Meloni’s supporters accuse RAI of left-wing bias