School Toilet Closure "Riots"
Videos on the TikTok social media platform show a succession of protests sweeping the country’s schools as pupils object to their toilets being closed to prevent vaping
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by Dave Cross
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- “Heads warn parents not to back pupil protests spreading via TikTok,” said the Guardian. “Teachers condemn family support for trend in England and Wales that leads to school ‘stampedes’”
- “Teachers on ‘riot’ alert as more school protests planned by students this week,” said the Independent. “More rallies could be held after events last week inspired by TikTok trend”
- “Teachers were forced to set off fire alarms as they tried to stop hundreds of school children from organising ‘TikTok riots’ protesting,” said the Daily Express
- “Teachers launch crackdown on 'TikTok riots' rocking Britain's schools,” said the Daily Mail
- “Children ‘riot’ in schools across UK in protest at toilet rules sparked by TikTok trend,” said the Daily Mirror
The school principal at Duston School, Northampton, told journalists at the Guardian that parents were being “ridiculous” in supporting their children to protest the removal of access to toilet facilities.
“Some parents have been arguing that it is an infringement of human rights for schools to restrict toilet use during lessons,” he said. He argues that this, rather than removing a basic right, could lead to things escalating and swiftly getting out of hand.
That school principal has decided any child taking part in a protest would be suspended from school or face permanent exclusion.
“When I was a kid you worried about getting your head flushed down the toilet at school. Now vaping is the big problem,” he told the newspaper.
Is there a teen vape crisis?
Data say ‘no’.
Yes, there has been an uptick in use, but the evidence from Action on Smoking and Health and Cancer Research UK is clear:
- A large majority of 11-17 year olds have never tried or are unaware of e-cigarettes (83.8%)
- In 2022, 15.8% of 11-17 year olds had tried vaping, compared to 11.2% in 2021 and 13.9% in 2020
- In 2022, 7.0% of 11-17 year olds were current users, compared to 3.3% in 2021 and 4.1% in 2020
- Children under 16 are least likely to try e-cigarettes. 10.4% of 11-15 year olds have tried vaping, compared to 29.1% of 16-17 year olds. Among 18 year olds 40.8% report having tried an e-cigarette
- Use among 11-17 year olds who have never smoked remains low and largely experimental, while 7.5% of never smokers have tried an e-cigarette in 2022 only 1.7% report at least monthly use
Schools are facing difficult times due to a reduction in real terms funding and the government continually missing its recruitment targets – last year by almost 50%. While many will argue that these “riots” are misguided at best, is it fair on students to implement draconian actions on entire student bodies when just a small minority of children are causing an issue?
If you have an opinion on this matter, why not share it on the Planet of the Vapes forum.
References:
- Use of e-cigarettes (vapes) among young people in Great Britain, ASH UK - https://ash.org.uk/uploads/Use-of-e-cigarettes-among-young-people-in-Gre...
Photo Credit:
Video images from TikTok
Police Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
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