Russian Education and Science Minister Andrey Fursenko takes part in the business breakfast organized by Association of managers in the hotel "Marriott Royal Aurora".
Photo: Ilya Pitalev
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Students Will Take Drug Test
// Andrey Fursenko offers new rules for colleges
Yesterday Minister of Education and Science Andrey Fursenko announced that the ministry plans to introduce mandatory mass drug testing of students and those who become students in Russian colleges. The passing of the test might become a necessary condition to enroll into the college. The human rights activists reminded that the initiative of the Ministry of Education and Science (MES) breaks the basic Constitutional principles -- presumption of innocence and the rights and protecting the private life of the individual.
The state campaign to identify drug users among the students is the result of lobbying for several years by the State Narcotic Control Agency (SNCA). According to the official data, in Russia there are almost 150,000 teenagers taking illegal substances registered. And it is probably five times more than those who are not registered. The state anti-drug program prescribes "to increase identification of the drug users in order to prevent narcotic-related crimes." Yesterday's announcement from the MES shows that "the identification" should be increased by different state institutions.
However, MES officials sometimes contradict themselves. For instance, the Minister of Education and Science Andrey Fursenko states in a diplomatic way that the tests "should not be a -equirement, but they should be large scale ones." His subordinate, Sergey Apatenko, Head of the Department of Youth Policy, admitted that the possibility of required drug testing is being considered: "No country in the world uses the methods of required testing, but now the time has come." It is evident that if the ministry wants to get a full picture of illegal substances abuse among the students, it would have to go ahead with the required tests. And the ministry has the capacity to do so.
Fursenko, for instance, reminded about the presence of required drug screens in the bylaws of colleges -- the drug addict would not be allowed to enroll to college and a student who was caught using drugs will be thrown out from the school within 24 hours. If a person refuses to take the required drug test, then he or she automatically is considered guilty. In the same time, representatives of MES explained that, they would not punish a student who was caught using drugs, but the drug screening can appear in the bylaws of Russian colleges.
Human rights activists considered "mandatory-voluntary" drug tests among the students illegal. Lev Levinson, head of public organization New Narco-Policy, reminds that mandatory testing will break the basic Constitutional principles such as presumption of innocence and the right for private life. "In our country statistically there are more thieves than drug addicts, but nobody offers to do mandatory check of all passengers in metro trains in case if they stole something," the activist notes.
Yulia Taratuta
All the Article in Russian as of Sep. 20, 2005
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