In Slovenia, mortality from alcohol-attributable causes stands at 17 per 100,000 people. The European Union average is 3.4. Five times higher! Not ten per cent. Not half as much again. Five times higher. It is a figure that ought to make us stop and think very seriously. But not in Slovenia. Not when the right is in power. Here, we apparently prefer to focus on how to bring alcohol into yet another place where we really do not need it. Schools.
- Alcohol does not belong in schools. Full stop!
- Patriotic education will solve the problem of poor PISA results
- I’d like to be more positive, but unfortunately I can’t
As if it were not enough that alcohol is everywhere we turn. That it is an integral part of almost every celebration, village festivity and family gathering. That a glass of wine is considered perfectly normal, while if you do not drink alcohol, you are often the one expected to explain your decision. Alcohol is part of Slovenian folklore. Almost part of the national identity. Whenever someone suggests restricting its availability, there are soon people talking about tradition, freedom and Slovenian culture.
But a mortality rate five times higher is not tradition. It is a serious public health problem. Instead of asking how to reduce alcohol consumption, how to protect young people and how to change society’s attitude towards drinking, we are debating whether it could also be served on school premises at certain events.
Seriously? Apparently, the right-wing bloc would solve the problems in education by allowing alcohol to be served on school premises when there are no classes. Nobody is claiming that a glass of wine at an event will, in itself, cause alcoholism. But that is not the point. It is about the message. About normalising alcohol in a place that ought to be dedicated to education, upbringing and the healthy development of children.
Schools should be alcohol-free spaces. Full stop. No exceptions, no loopholes and no excuses about tradition. Perhaps it would be wiser for us, as a society, to first ask why our figures are so catastrophic. Only then should we consider whether we really need yet another opportunity to raise a toast.
I support zero tolerance for alcohol in schools. Those five times as many deaths are a pretty good reason for it. Or perhaps the right wants as many people as possible to be drunk while it governs, because that is the only way anyone can put up with the nonsense it churns out every day!