Source: Africa Publicity
The Education Ministry of Liberia has stopped plans for the mandatory drug of students across all schools in the country.
Interim Head of the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA), Fitzgerald Biago, had told Liberian media outlets that drug testing across schools would help address the increasing canker of drug abuse in Liberia.
LDEA’s announcement was greeted with mixed reactions, with some Liberians saying it would help combat the rise in drug abuse while others deemed it an attempt to invade privacy or cost the nation so much.
The decision to conduct a mandatory testing in schools follows President Joseph Boakai’s declaration last year of drug and substance abuse being a national emergency.
However, the Education Ministry says it was not aware of any plans to test students and added that such a decision needed to be based on concrete evidence and properly thought through.
In a BBC report sighted by Africa Publicity, Liberia’s Assistant minister in charge of students affairs, Sona Toure-Sesay was cited as saying that this kind of plan required proper research.
She was quoted as telling BBC that “Let’s assume we are made aware of the proposed initiatives by the LDEA, it will require us to conduct research and review case studies from other countries where this has been successful”, adding that testing could affect students.
She says “What happens to students who test positive? What are the social services in place for them? Some of them might be bullied even after returning, and it may affect their overall educational performances.”
