DRUG TESTS FOR BANGKOK SCHOOLS

Schools run by the city administration have been ordered to conduct urine
tests on their students when the new semester begins next month, as part of
a government plan to keep schools free from drugs, a senior city official
said yesterday.

Bangkok Deputy Governor Tharin Sangansermsri, who is in charge of
education, said all 433 schools run by the Bangkok Metropolitan
Administration (BMA) each obtained Bt5,000 to carry out drug tests on their
students.

"The tests should begin immediately at the beginning of the next semester,"
she said, adding that the BMA's public health department would also offer
technical support for the plan.

The White School project is aimed at keeping all BMA-run schools
drugs-free. The new school semester starts in mid-May.

The deputy governor also said that all the schools under the BMA had been
instructed to guard against any drug abuse by their students and to prevent
any outside influence from adjacent communities.