The Seimas took up the proposal to check students’ belongings and their lockers without parents’ permission

According to the report, the amendments to the Law on Education provide that “a student, in accordance with the procedure established in the internal rules of the School or upon request by a police officer, must show personal belongings in order to check whether prohibited substances, products and other supplies are not brought into the school.”

Currently, the possibility to check students’ belongings is provided only if a contract is signed between the school and the students’ parents.

“It is natural that there are a number of such schools that do not want to have the locker provided in the contracts between the school and the parents to allow checking of the child’s belongings. Schools don’t want to lose ratings because they will lose children, and children are the student basket, funding.

Therefore, the permission to check children’s belongings and lockers should not be a matter of schools’ will or unwillingness, but a matter of the state’s responsibility, because the state must ensure a safe environment for students. It should not be left to the dialogue of the school administration with parents or students. Human rights are very important, but when the situation regarding narcotic substances in schools is so critical, we have to talk about other rights as well – the right of parents to feel safe when their child goes to school”, says Andrius Mazuronis, Chairman of the Labor Party.

“In speaking with school and police representatives, we heard very clearly their expectation and fear that the fundamental problem behind the proliferation of e-cigarettes among children and young people is that no one can check children’s belongings without parental consent,” said one of the amendments. initiator, Seimas member Ieva Kačinskaitė-Urbonienė.