Pupils march against drug tests in schools
Doctors and pharmacists joined more than 100 schoolchildren in a protest march yesterday to urge the government to scrap drug testing due to start in Tai Po schools next month.
The protesters marched from Chater Garden in Central to the Central Government Offices, where they handed in a petition letter.
They said the government had not fully consulted pupils before launching the scheme, and voiced concerns about privacy and the pressure the tests would exert on pupils.
Some 22,000 pupils in 23 secondary schools in Tai Po will be subjected to voluntary drug tests from next month under the pilot scheme.
Kong Kwai-sang of Youth Union, one of three groups that convened the protest, questioned the effectiveness of testing in fighting drug use among pupils. He said the government should address teenage drug use by solving social problems such as youth unemployment and a lack of tertiary education places.
Secondary Students Union acting chairman Yu Wai-pan said: 'The government should show its care for young people instead of threatening them [with the testing scheme]. We demand the government scrap the scheme immediately.'
A council member of the Doctors' Union, Jeff Au Yeung Ying-kit, who attended the protest, said the union objected to the scheme. 'Drug testing is a medical procedure. It should not be done at school,' he said, adding that there was no scientific evidence suggesting such testing was effective in fighting drug use.
Practising Pharmacists Association president Iris Chang Yee-man questioned why pupils were singled out to be tested. 'Why not everyone in Hong Kong?' Chang said. 'The government should deal with the drug problem from its root - the drug supply. School-based drug testing does not work.'
She also voiced concern about pupils receiving false-positive results from tests.
Tang Wing-fai, programme secretary for social concern and youth education at the Hong Kong Christian Institute, said the tests would undermine the trust between pupils and teachers.
Undersecretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok said the government had maintained close communication with the education sector.
'The drug-testing scheme will be conducted on a voluntary basis,' he said. 'The operational details of the scheme were mapped out after considering views from different parties and the scheme has also been fine-tuned based on opinions collected. We will continue to listen to views from different parties and explain the scheme to them to clear up their concerns and worries.'
