DepEd mulls drug test for tutors, kids

THE DEPARTMENT of Education (DepEd) is seriously considering conducting an annual drug test for public school teachers and random drug tests for public school students with the consent of their parents, Education Secretary Leonor Briones said yesterday.

Briones said the DepEd was also considering using visual presentations to teach Grade 4 pupils about the drug menace.

Briones announced the DepEd’s proactive stance in the government’s antidrug campaign during the Senate finance subcommittee’s deliberations on the DepEd’s proposed P566 billion budget for 2017.

“We are a very, very large sector so we have to look into this [drug] issue. So it’s not only improving the curriculum but making it much alive and much more effective,” she told senators.

There are 722,000 public school teachers and 25 million students all over the country, Briones said.

She noted the drug menace had affected schools, with “drugs delivered to gates of school buildings.”

“We can’t claim to be excluded and protected from the drug menace,” she said.

Briones said the education sector wanted to make a “contribution” to the government’s war against drugs and “we recognize we have to start with our learners and teachers.”

She said the drug test for students would be for “sampling basis” and “with the consent of their parents.”

Private organizations and the Philippine National Police have offered to hold briefings on the drug issue for students.

She also said they were interested in drug rehabilitation centers since a study show that a “substantial number of those who are arrested (for drug use) are young people out of school and maybe a few who are in school.”

Briones told reporters later that they would to decide this year or next year the conduct for the drug test. She said the drug test for students was also aimed  to determine the prevalence of drug use among students.