MPs vote to ban smoking on school grounds by 2020

The lower house of Dutch parliament on Tuesday approved a proposal to ban smoking on all school grounds by 2020, the Volkskrant reports.

"Because of see smoking, do smoking, I am delighted that we will soon no longer see any cigarettes around schools", said ChristenUnie parliamentarian Carla Dik-Faber. "A big step forward for the health of our young people."

According to research by the sector organization for secondary education VO-raad, 53 percent of high schools and 6 percent of secondary vocational schools currently offer a smoke free environment.

A study by the Longfonds showed that there are large differences in the number of smoke-free schools per region. in Zeeland only 21 percent of high schools are smoke-free, in Overijssel it's 34 percent. Flevoland is the leader with 60 percent smoke-free high schools.