DepEd stands firm against mandatory drug testing for elementary students

The Department of Education (DepEd) maintained that it will not allow 10-year-old students and up to be subjected to mandatory drug testing following a meeting with concerned agencies.

On Tuesday, DepEd had a threehour meeting with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB), and the Philippine National Police (PNP) regarding the proposal of a mandatory drug testing among Grade 4 pupils and above.

During the meeting, the PDEA, DDB, and PNP presented their data that showed dramatic increase in the number of children involved in illegal drugs.

Education Secretary Leonor Briones said they have agreed that drug problem is not just a police or an education dilemma, but a problem of the society.

But DepEd stood its ground in limiting the random drug testing to secondary and tertiary level students, stressing such is mandated by law.

“The important thing is, I think, all of us realize that the drug problem is not only a police problem, or an education problem, it’s a problem of society. And this can only be minimized if society also changes; we are engaged in the same battle, we are using different methodologies and we are focusing on different clientele,” she said.

Meanwhile, Briones said the four agencies agreed to provide each other advice, share information, and meet regularly to solve the menace of illegal drugs. She also added that DepEd’s mandate from President Duterte is to enhance the curriculum on education for learners nine years old and above.

“We agreed that we will split the job ours is the preventive, while theirs is the enforcement. We have to respect what each of us are doing because we have the same goal, which is to fight illegal drugs,” Briones said.

Last week, some parents, youth, and leaders from Akbayan protested in front of the Corazon Aquino Elementary School in Quezon City to denounce the proposal of PDEA to subject students as young as 10 years old to drug testing.

The DepEd earlier said that the proposal of PDEA to test all students age 10 and older “may require the amendment” of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, which authorizes drug testing for “secondary and tertiary level students only.”

According to DepEd, it has been implementing a drug testing program which began in School Year (SY) 20172018 and will be completed in SY 20182019, covering all 1,300 officers and personnel at the central office, 3,800 in the regional offices, and 26,000 in schools division offices.

The agency’s drug testing program follows the legal mandate and regulations pursuant to the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, specifically Section 36 (c). The specific standards and guidelines follow strictly the regulations of the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) Regulation No. 6, s. 2003 as amended by DDB Regulation No. 3, s. 2009, on the conduct of drug testing for students, and DDB Regulation No. 2, s. 2004. Also, there is a Civil Service Commission Resolution No. 1700653 issued on 15 March 2017, providing guidelines of the mandatory drug test for public officials and employees.

Such program is being implemented in close partnership with the Health Department, the DepEd said.

With this, the DepEd said the integration of preventive drug education in curriculum and instruction is found in the subjects of health, and in Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao with respect to life skills to prevent students from being involved in illegal drugs.