DepEd to hold drug tests on 20,000 students, teachers

The Department of Education (DepEd) is preparing to conduct drug tests on 20,000 high school students, teachers and education personnel.

Assistant Education Secretary Nepomuceno Malaluan said on Monday that the tests, to be carried out in coordination with the Department of Health, would attempt to determine the extent of the drug problem in the country’s public and private schools.

“It’s a statistical sampling and not universal. We will be testing a sample size of about 20,000 students and that will provide us with (a sample) that is representative of the entire secondary level students,” Malaluan said.

“That will be the baseline for us to check the effectiveness of our preventive drug education campaign,” he added.

“Those who test positive would undergo an assessment. Depending on their level of dependency, they would be provided with either guidance counseling or rehabilitation,” Malaluan said.

He said “experimental or occasional users” would receive counseling.

“For those who will require rehabilitation, we will provide assistance,” he added.