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Letters: Privacy rule puts kids at risk

A new regulation from the Education Ministry has earned acclaim among students but is a potential bomb in terms of school security.

The regulation stipulates that teachers cannot search students' schoolbags for dangerous objects or substances violating school rules.

I fully agree with the driving spirit and motivation of the regulation, which aims to protect the right of students to personal privacy.

However, forbidding such searches leaves a security loophole that could put the safety of teachers and students at risk.

The fundamental issue is that no one can accurately pinpoint someone who poses a threat to a school.

No one can read people's minds.

No one can guarantee that shy, quiet students aren't troublemakers and would never bring a knife to school. No one can know whether a student might use or sell drugs.

Another question is why students carry so many personal items to school in the first place.

Some students carry so many personal items that one would think school is a party or a cosmetics show. If students would go to school with nothing but the necessary materials, searching their bags could hardly constitute an invasion of privacy.

As we know, school children are immature and vulnerable to peer pressure that can lead them to experiment with illegal substances or get into other trouble.

In order to minimize that risk, our government must equip teachers with some powers to identify students in trouble.

Without the right to search a student's bag, schools are likely to experience increasing difficulties. Students have already enjoyed enough lax changes in regulations over the past few years.

Prevention is better than cure.

Huang Bai-long

Taipei

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