The Lithuanian Seimas has started deliberating a proposal submitted by the opposition Labour Party to allow schools to check students’ belongings for banned items, such as cigarettes and drugs.
On Tuesday, lawmakers gave their initial backing to an amendment that would require school students to show their personal belongings in school in accordance with the school’s procedures or upon request by a police officer to check whether prohibited substances or items have been brought into the school.
Ninety-four MPs voted in favour of this amendment to the Law on Education, seven were against, and 17 abstained. It will be further discussed by the parliamentary committees and brought back for plenary debate in December.
The Labour Party, which drafted the amendment, points out that currently student’s belongings can only be checked if there’s a signed agreement between the school and parents.
“Allowing the inspection of children’s belongings and lockers should not be a matter of the willingness or unwillingness of schools, but a matter of the state’s responsibility,” Andrius Mazuronis, leader of the Labor Party, said.
According to him, human rights in schools are very important, but the drug situation is critical, and it is the state’s duty to ensure a safe environment for children.
The amendments were registered by the Labour Party back in June, but the debate reignited after a 17-year-old died in Lithuania’s southern city of Marijampolė after a suspected overdose, while several other young people needed medical treatment for drug poisoning.
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