A total of 3,222 Secondary One to Three students completed questionnaires from September to October this year in the survey conducted by the Christian Family Service Centre and the Boys' and Girls' Clubs Association of Hong Kong.

Among those polled were 332 non- Chinese students whose results were also extracted for the survey.

Releasing the findings yesterday, Lai Kui-yuen, an outreach social worker for the Boys' and Girls' Clubs Association in Kwun Tong, said more should be done to ease worries about discrimination when students are randomly selected for drug testing.

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The pilot scheme will begin in December at 23 secondary schools in Tai Po.

The poll showed high support for the drug-testing scheme: 80 percent of the 3,000 Hong Kong-Chinese students and 80.9 percent of the 332 non-Chinese.

However, a higher percentage of the non-Chinese students, 80 percent, worried that they would be discriminated against, while 68.2 percent of Chinese students felt the same way.

Lai said the two organizations conducted the survey as the scheme is bound to affect all students even though it will be first piloted in Tai Po.

He suggested more counseling and assistance to youngsters be provided instead of punishing them, "to eliminate the labeling effect of the scheme."

"The aim of the drug tests is to prevent students from taking drugs and provide assistance for those in need," Lai said.

"I hope this will eliminate the negative effects of drug tests so they will be accepted by the students."

Schools were urged to protect students' privacy and avoid discriminating against or causing embarrassment to students.

Lai also suggested that students selected for drug tests sign a confidentiality agreement "with the relevant person such as the principal or the drug-testing team, that student privacy will not be intruded upon."

Meanwhile, a survey by the Hong Kong Education Policy Concern Organization and Hong Kong Women Teachers' Organization found that 70 percent of the 757 polled secondary and primary teachers supported the scheme, but 53 percent were not confident in executing it.

Also, 78 percent think this will increase their workload and 53 percent said it will affect teaching quality.