Education Secretary Leonor Briones announces the Department of Education’s programs for the year during yesterday’s launching of the Brigada Eskwela in a Cebu City high school.
CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA
Random drug testing of teachers and students will be implemented in the public schools across the country this year.
Education Secretary Leonor Briones made this announcement during yesterday’s launching of the Brigada Eskwela 2017 at the Ramon Duterte National High School in Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City (See related story on page 5).
The drug tests, which will be conducted by the Department of Health, will cover secondary or high school students, teachers in the elementary and secondary levels, and school personnel.
On conducting the drug tests, Briones said that the rights of the students and pupils should be heard because there were cases that teachers were involved in drugs.
She said that there were cases where teachers were caught in buy-bust operations, and this could cause harm to the students, who might be lured into the illegal drug activities.
“Think of the human rights of the children. Think of the human rights of the fellow teachers. We cannot focus only on individual rights, you have to have the rights of the different person,” she said.
She said that a teacher would be terminated if he or she could not be rehabilitated anymore, and those who could be rehabilitated would be advised to undergo rehabilitation.
Private schools are not included in this program.
“We are the biggest army of government employees. This is why it is important that we have to keep our department and our enrollees safe from drugs,” Briones said.
She said that she hopes that this program will hinder the involvement of students in illegal drug activities.
Last March, the Department of Education in a statement, said that the random drug testing is part of the department’s support to the government’s efforts against illegal drugs.
According to DepEd, the mandatory drug testing is based on Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 where Section 36 states that students of secondary and tertiary schools shall undergo a random drug testing as pursuant to the related rules and regulations as contained in the school’s student handbook and with notice to the parents.
Aside from the drug testing implementation, the DepEd in Central Visayas has introduced Tech for Ed, a program offering free Wi-Fi and access to computers in schools.
This program targets the schools’ division offices, non-teaching personnel, and out-of-school youth./CNU Intern Christine Jane N. Paler