Health minister Dzulkefly Ahmad said 298 of the 374 pupils (79.7%) had set a quit date.

“We followed up on the cohort after six months and found that 127 (37.6%) had quit smoking,” he said in a written parliamentary reply to Alias Razak (PN-Kuala Nerus).

Dzulkefly also said 18,761 of 38,010 secondary school students (49.4%) had set a quit date.

However, he said, the success rate was much lower, with only 1,726 of the students (5.2%) quitting smoking after six months.

He said the health ministry has implemented several programmes to ensure that students do not return to smoking, including strengthening intervention training for smoking cessation.

This training is provided to counsellors and drug prevention education teachers to help them teach children about the dangers of smoking and vaping.

“Students who smoke will be referred to the school’s counsellor. The students can also seek follow-up treatment at nearby health clinics under the supervision of their parents,” he said.

Additionally, he said, the ministry has conducted a five-year programme, which includes advocacy and intervention in higher education institutions through the mQuit University initiative.

“In workplaces, the intervention is carried out through mQuit Workplace, and within communities through collaborations with non-governmental organisations such as the Malaysian Pharmaceutical Society, Pemadam, Ikram Health and other NGOs,” he said.