Philippine Daily Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines — Starting next March, the education and health departments will jointly conduct random drug testing of students in the 9,300-plus public and private high schools nationwide.
The testing, part of the government’s drug education program, “will continue in school year 2009-2010,” Education Secretary Jesli Lapus has told the Inquirer.
“It is timely to do this as illegal drugs have become rampant in some parts of the country,” said Lapus, adding the tests were necessary for the protection of the country’s 6.5 million-plus high school students.
Lapus noted that random drug testing has been done in selected schools in the past “and there have been positive findings.”
He was apparently referring to the 2005 drug tests conducted by the DepEd and DoH where some 8,670 students from 287 high schools nationwide were randomly tested for illegal drugs.
At least 115 of those students tested “positive” for methamphetamine, popularly known as shabu, and other illegal drugs, according to a report furnished by Education Assistant Secretary Thelma Santos.
The tests were conducted in all regions except Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, and Mimaropa (short for Mindoro Oriental, Mindoro Occidental, Marinduque, Romblon, and Palawan).
Northern Mindanao topped the list with 13 students found positive for drug use, followed by Central Visayas, Southern Mindanao, and Caraga with 12, 10, and 9, respectively.
According to Santos, “we’ll provide the DoH with the list of public and private high schools. It’s up to them to choose the schools.”
“The school visits of the drug testing teams, which start next March, will be unannounced,” she said.
Santos clarified that students “will not be forced to undergo drug tests.” But she stressed that “there will be close monitoring of high schools where there’s high prevalence of illegal drug use.”
A check with DepEd files showed that as early as August 4, 2003, the agency had issued guidelines on random drug testing of high school students.
Department Order 63, signed by then Education Secretary Edilberto De Jesus, said the activity was pursuant to Section 36-C of Article 3 of Republic Act 9165, otherwise known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
The drug tests aim to “determine the prevalence of drug users among the studentry, assess the effectivity of school- and community-based prevention programs, deter the use of illegal drugs, facilitate the rehabilitation of drug dependents, and strengthen the collaborative efforts of identified agencies against the use of illegal drugs.”
According to the DepEd order, “drug test results shall be treated with utmost confidentiality and shall not be used in any criminal proceedings” against those found positive for drug use.
RA 9165, on the other hand, orders the DepEd to “integrate drug abuse prevention concepts into subjects such as Science, Health, and Makabayan in the elementary level, and Science and Technology and Makabayan in the secondary level, as well as in the non-formal education program, particularly in functional education, literacy, and values education.”
The law also calls for the “continuous development, updating, and adoption of learning packages to support the existing drug education concepts in textbooks and instructional materials” and “mobilization of school health and nutrition personnel in complementing classroom instruction on drug abuse prevention.”
