A cross-sectional study on the prevalence of smoking among Form 3, 4 and 5 students of a rural national co-educational school was carried out using a selfadministered questionnaire. By the age of 18 years old, three quarters of boys had tried smoking compared with 12% of girls. About a third of boys were still smokers while only 0.7% of girls were still smokers. There was a higher prevalence of smokers among students who stayed with their parents and those who were working part-time. Most smokers knew about the dangerous and addictive effect of cigarette smoking but smoked because of "influence by school peers", "curiosity" and "to increase concentration and decrease tension".