Allow More Kinds Of Drug-Testing In Schools: Union

HONG KONG: A major teachers' union has suggested Tai Po secondary
schools be allowed to carry out the planned student drug testing
program in their own ways and then report their results to the government.

Cheung Man-kwong, the president of the Professional Teachers' Union,
said the government can spend the next few months consulting with the
education sector and come up with feasible proposals of how to
implement the trial.

He said schools should be allowed to decide individually how, when and
where to carry out the drug tests and in what conditions students
should be subject to testing.

"We will then be able to find out the good and bad approaches and work
out a scheme that entails the good practices," he said.

The union's vice-president (internal affairs) Fung Wai-wah said
schools committed to the trial can be placed in groups using different
approaches to the testing. Then, the government could compare outcomes
after a certain period of time.

He said under the union proposal, schools can kick off their test
programs at different times and maintain them for varying periods.

The schemes could be reviewed some time later, probably about a year
after the schemes commenced, said Fung.

Ng Siu-ki, the principal of the H.K. & Kowloon Kaifong Women's
Association Sun Fong Chung College in Tai Po, said he is worried
different approaches by different schools are likely to run up the
costs of the program. He said he is open to giving schools discretion
on start-up dates and rewards for students who come up clean on the
drug tests.

On the question of whether to inform the police of students' test
results, Ng said school principals and teachers should examine the
matter, case by case.

"If students plan to start anew and don't know much about the drug
source, we may consider not telling the police at once," he said. "If
they get involved in triad societies or drug syndicates, I will see no
reason why we don't inform the police."

Meanwhile, some youth rights concern groups called on Tai Po secondary
school students to put up a unified wall of resistance to the
drug-testing program.

Kong Kwai-sang, the convener of the Youth Union, a group with about 20
youngsters dedicated to expressing the view of young people on social
issues, said they will hand out booklets in Tai Po from Sunday onwards
calling on students not to join the program. The group may also set up
information boards in Tai Po to get out the message.

Group member Joe Ip Ping-lam said, "All students will be treated like
suspected drug abusers in the program. It shows that authorities do
not trust students at all ... Some teens resort to drugs as they lack
care and support. The testing trial is not going to solve the root of
the problem."