Social workers and student concern groups have denounced a proposed drug-testing scheme for students.
Youth organisations, social workers, legislators and lawyers united to reject the proposed scheme at a Legislative Council education panel special meeting this week, saying it infringed students' privacy and human rights.
Proposals for compulsory and voluntary drug tests were put forward in a report last November by the Taskforce on Youth Drug Abuse, led by Secretary for Justice Wong Yan-lung, in a bid to fight increasing drug use.
A pilot scheme for voluntary drug tests in schools is expected next year, and the government has pledged to consult the public this year about empowering police officers to conduct mandatory tests on suspects.
Frontline social worker Ken Tsang Kin-chiu, from Young Civics, said the plan amounted to discrimination against young people.
'By imposing the tests on students, the government is putting the blame for drug abuse on them,' he said. 'Drug abuse is a complicated problem, behind which lie a lot of intertwining reasons such as family and economic background.'
Chin Wai-lok, convenor for the Concern Group on Schools' Hegemony, said the plan would alienate students and increase truancy.
