MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Education will start conducting drug tests among students in all public and private schools across the country after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered a crackdown against students hooked on drugs, Education Secretary Jesli Lapus said Wednesday.

Selection of students to be tested will be by lottery.

Lapus said DepEd was simply complying with the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 which provides that schools in the secondary and tertiary-levels should conduct drug testing.

"This is a welcome thing because parents would also be more involved. It is the primary duty of parents to take care of their children and they would not want to send their children to drug-infested schools," Lapus said.

He said DepEd already conducted random drug testing in 2005 but this was discontinued.

"At that time, there was a random sampling of 17 high schools per region with 30 students per school being tested," Lapus said.

"So, close to 9,000 students were tested but in this (latest) order, all of the private and public high schools and those in the tertiary level will conduct random drug testing," he added.

Lapus said this did not mean that all students would be tested. He said there will be random sampling of students per school but all schools will have to participate.

Lapus said the guidelines for the testing have been issued by the Dangerous Drugs Board.

"The guidelines are detailed. There should be a selection board and each school should have a testing coordinator," Lapus said. "Confidentiality and integrity will be observed and we will be coordinating with the Department of Health."

Students to be tested will be chosen by lottery, Lapus said, adding that those found positive for drugs will not be expelled but will be subjected to disciplinary action.

"In 2005, 1.1 percent was found positive and the next procedure would be to have a confirmation test to determine the level of dependency. What follows there is sessions with a counselor," Lapus said.

"So we want to assess the situation. We want to have a deterrent against would-be users," he added.