Saturday: 20 August 2011:
Educationalists and experts warn about risks of fireworks
Use of Fireworks poses a real threat on child’s psychological and physical health, warned educationalists and experts.
These warnings came as part of the current campaign being conducted by the Security Media Department to educate the community members about the dangers of playing with fireworks.
Parents believed that combating this phenomenon is a collective responsibility that must be put it into action.
According to Dr. Abdullateef Al Azazi, an expert in human development and family affairs, the ingredients of fireworks could be one of the threats that cause deformities and deaths among some individuals. Furthermore, the loud sound of the bang produced when a kid unexpectedly throws firecrackers at his/her friends might be another cause of panic to them and could seriously affect their ears.
The smoke emitted by fireworks causes environmental pollution, and might cause fires at the houses and at the locations where fireworks are used.
Dr. Masr Al Ameri, secretary general of the National Commission for Education, Culture and Science at the Ministry of Education emphasized the role of educationalists in raising the awareness of students and their parents about the dangers of the fireworks.
From my personal experience, I have observed that the light and the heat emitted by fireworks cause serious harm to the skin and the eyes, she added.
Use of fireworks might lead to serious effects unless both the house and school have combined their efforts to curb their use among school children, said Adnan Eissa Abbas, Academic Advisor, Al Nahda National Schools.
School is essential in ensuring child’s safety as children are educated about the general risks surrounding them through science and Islamic education classes, as well as the daily school broadcasting, added Adnan.
Dr. Maha Abdulhaleem, a psychologist, listed a number of risks befalling individuals who use fireworks including, noise pollution which has direct impact on eardrum, eye burns, retinal detachment and physical harms.
She believed that strict laws must be enacted to ban selling of fireworks and punish violators.
Parents, for their part, believed that enhancing the effort to combat fireworks is a collective responsibility shared by the family and school, the purpose of which is to ensure child protection.
Dr. Fareeda bin Salmeen emphasized the importance and value of family in educating children about the risks of fireworks and preventing them form buying such products.
Mother of Ahmed said that use of fireworks by children is a worrying matter as it causes physical harms to them, indicating that children must be monitored and prevented from playing with such dangerous materials.
