CEBU Gov. Hilario Davide III is in favor of mandatory drug testing for all teachers and students with permission from their parents, saying teachers should be role models to students.
“They are supposed to be models in the school,” Davide said.
He said the Department of Education (DepEd) should spend for the tests.
He said there have been instances, like in Badian, where a teacher was caught using drugs.
Last May 26, 2015, the acting principal of Santicon Elementary School was caught sniffing shabu with three others inside a drug den in Badian town.
But Davide said authorities should be careful with students as they might get traumatized by the test.
“Di ko mo-recommend nga apilon ang elementary, pero maybe sa high school (I don’t recommend the tests for elementary students, but maybe in high school),” said Davide.
If there is a need to include elementary pupils, it may be Grade 5 and Grade 6, the he said.
“My view, duna ra bay elementary student pud kadtong nadakpan, usa ka surrenderer nga 11 years old (There has been an 11-year-old surrenderee),” he said, referring to the police’s Oplan Tokhang.
The child admitted he had been using drugs since he was eight.
DepEd Sec. Leonor Briones last Sept. 26 said they are eyeing mandatory drug tests for teachers and students with their parents’ consent.
Briones said this will be the department’s contribution to President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign against illegal drugs.
After the arrest of the acting school principal in Badian in May last year, the Cebu Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Council (CPADAC) announced that it will conduct surprise drug tests among teachers. This was supported by then schools superintendent Arden Monisit.
But incoming schools division superintendent Dr. Rhea Mar Angtud said there should be guidelines and a committee to handle the process.
A year has gone by and no surprise drug tests were conducted on Cebu teachers.