IN my recent lecture on balancing the right of schools to discipline and child protection of students, for teachers and school administrators held in Clark, questions similar to this were propounded by student discipline officers.

In New Jersey v T.L.O, the US Supreme Court laid down the application of the following search standards in relation to searches conducted in schools: First, was the search justified in its inception? A search is justified when there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that the search would turn up evidence that the student has violated or is violating either the law or rules of the school.