Lentera Foundation: 85 Percent Schools Surrounded by Tobacco Ads

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Lentera Anak Foundation chairwoman Lisda Sundari said that schools are flooded with advertisements from tobacco companies.

Such ads are put on food stalls around schools, the schools’ walls, up to the roads to school.

Lisda claimed that these ads have surrounded 85 percent of schools in Indonesia started from kindergarten to high schools. She added that the data were collected from report of tobacco ad supervision from Pengembangan Media Anak Foundation, and Lentera Anak in 5 cities namely Jakarta, Bandung, Padang, Makassar, and Mataram in 2015. Such a phenomenon goes against regulations maintaining that schools must be free from tobacco.

“National Education and Culture's Ministry's regulation (No. 64/2015) mandated schools as tobacco free area,” Lisda firmly stated in Jakarta on Saturday (25/02).

Lisda suspected that the ads displayed around schools are without legal permission, in other words not paying taxes.

Moreover, based on her findings, owners of food stalls are willing to put the ads because they receive regular payment, for instance 50 thousand rupiahs each month, 300 thousand rupiahs every three months, 800 thousand rupiahs every year, and up to 4 million rupiahs every year.

For that matter, Lentera Anak Foundation and hundreds of students held a rally in front of presidential palace conveying a message that they refuse to be the target of tobacco ads. 120 tobacco ad banners were collected as evidence.

Lisda added that her foundation will address this issue to Education and Culture Ministry on March 2017. The purpose is to completely apply free tobacco regulation in schools and their surroundings.

DANANG FIRMANTO