Hong Kong – SED on declining student population and merger of two secondary schools
SED on declining student population and merger of two secondary schools
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Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Education, Dr Choi Yuk-lin, at a media session after attending a radio programme today (April 22):
Reporter: Secretary, about combining the Caritas schools, are you aware of similar situations with other schools? What did the students think about it? Thank you.
Secretary for Education: As I have mentioned, we have kept communicating with different school sponsoring bodies with schools that are at risk under the declining student population. This (the merger of Caritas Wu Cheng-chung Secondary School and Caritas Charles Vath College) is the second case of merging schools. For the government schools, we have one already. And this is the second one. We are still communicating with different school sponsoring bodies. Maybe there are some others coming. For the students, I think they are aware of this arrangement. We know that schools have close contact with the parents and the students to make the necessary support and arrangements for the students, whether they will be transferred (to another school) or stay in the original school location.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) is periodically monitoring the ground water levels throughout the country on a regional scale, through a network of monitoring wells. In order to assess the long term fluctuation in ground water level, the water level data collected by CGWB during November 2021 has been compared with the decadal mean of November 2011 to Nov 2020. Analysis of water level data indicates that about 70% of the wells monitored have registered rise in ground water level whereas, about 30 % wells have registered decline in water level. State-wise details are given in Annexure.
Though water is a State subject, Central Government has taken a number of important measures for conservation, management of ground water including effective implementation of rain water harvesting in the country, which can be seen at
http://jalshakti-dowr.gov.in/sites/default/file/Steps%20taken%20by%20the%20Central%20Govt%20for%20water_depletion_july2022.pdf.
Government of India is implementing Jal Shakti Abhiyan (JSA) in the country. First JSA was launched in 2019 in water stressed blocks of 256 districts which continued during the year 2021 (across entire country both rural and urban areas) also with the primary aim to effectively harvest the monsoon rainfall through creation of artificial recharge structures, watershed management, recharge and reuse structures, intensive afforestation and awareness generation etc. JSA for the year 2021 and 2022 were launched by Hon’ble Prime Minister and Hon’ble President on 22.03.2021 and 29.03.2022 respectively.
Hon’ble Prime Minister launched Amrit Sarovar Mission on 24th April 2022. The Mission is aimed at developing and rejuvenating 75 water bodies in each district of the country as a part of celebration of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.
Central Government is implementing Atal Bhujal Yojana with an outlay of Rs. 6,000 crore, in collaboration with States, in certain water stressed areas of Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The primary aim of the scheme is demand side management through scientific means involving the local communities at village levels leading to sustainable groundwater management in the targeted areas.
CGWB is implementing National Aquifer Mapping Program (NAQUIM) with an aim to identify the groundwater aquifer system along-with their characterization for its sustainable management. Out of the total mappable area of nearly 25 lakh sq km, nearly 22.10 lakh sq km of the area (as on 30th June 2022) in the country has been covered. The balance area has been targeted to be covered by March 2023. The NAQUIM study report alongwith management plans are shared with States/UTs for suitable interventions.
Water is a State subject and several States have done notable work in the field of water conservation/harvesting such as ‘Mukhyamantri Jal Swavlamban Abhiyan’ in Rajasthan, ‘Jalyukt Shibar’ in Maharashtra, ‘Sujalam Sufalam Abhiyan’ in Gujarat, ‘Mission Kakatiya’ in Telangana, Neeru Chettu’ in Andhra Pradesh, Jal Jeevan Hariyali in Bihar, ‘Jal Hi Jeevan’ in Haryana, and Kudimaramath scheme in Tamil Nadu.
This information was given by the Minister of State, for Jal Shakti, Shri Bishweswar Tudu in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.
*****
AS
ANNEXURE
State-wise Decadal Water Level Fluctuation with Mean [November (2011 to 2020] and November 2021
S. No.
Name of State
No. of wells Analysed
Rise
Fall
Rise
Fall
Wells showing no change
0-2 m
2-4 m
>4 m
0-2 m
2-4 m
>4 m
No
%
No
%
No
%
No
%
No
%
No
%
No
%
No
%
No
%
1
Andhra Pradesh
706
419
59.3
87
12.3
50
7.1
124
17.6
14
2.0
11
1.6
556
79
149
21
1
2
Arunachal Pradesh
10
2
20.0
0.0
0.0
8
80.0
0.0
0.0
2
20
8
80
3
Assam
167
71
42.5
3
1.8
1
0.6
83
49.7
6
3.6
3
1.8
75
45
92
55
4
Bihar
593
395
66.6
78
13.2
11
1.9
102
17.2
7
1.2
0.0
484
82
109
18
5
Chandigarh
12
4
33.3
2
16.7
1
8.3
3
25.0
1
8.3
1
8.3
7
58
5
42
6
Chhattisgarh
687
290
42.2
66
9.6
30
4.4
230
33.5
45
6.6
26
3.8
386
56
301
44
7
Dadra & Nagar Haveli
17
15
88.2
0.0
0.0
2
11.8
0.0
0.0
15
88
2
12
8
Daman & Diu
5
2
40.0
1
20.0
1
20.0
1
20.0
0.0
0.0
4
80
1
20
9
Delhi
86
29
33.7
21
24.4
15
17.4
12
14.0
3
3.5
6
7.0
65
76
21
24
10
Goa
68
9
13.2
0.0
1
1.5
52
76.5
5
7.4
1
1.5
10
15
58
85
11
Gujarat
746
278
37.3
122
16.4
112
15.0
140
18.8
50
6.7
44
5.9
512
69
234
31
12
Haryana
183
66
36.1
6
3.3
8
4.4
65
35.5
19
10.4
19
10.4
80
44
103
56
13
Himachal Pradesh
86
40
46.5
5
5.8
2
2.3
36
41.9
1
1.2
1
1.2
47
55
38
44
1
1
14
Jammu & Kashmir
213
100
46.9
4
1.9
3
1.4
99
46.5
4
1.9
3
1.4
107
50
106
50
15
Jharkhand
198
132
66.7
17
8.6
1
0.5
45
22.7
3
1.5
0.0
150
76
48
24
16
Karnataka
1290
709
55.0
265
20.5
123
9.5
159
12.3
20
1.6
14
1.1
1097
85
193
15
17
Kerala
1304
868
66.6
145
11.1
39
3.0
227
17.4
17
1.3
8
0.6
1052
81
252
19
18
Madhya Pradesh
1297
590
45.5
164
12.6
97
7.5
345
26.6
70
5.4
31
2.4
851
66
446
34
19
Maharashtra
1727
856
49.6
321
18.6
161
9.3
317
18.4
47
2.7
24
1.4
1338
77
388
22
1
20
Meghalaya
24
10
41.7
1
4.2
0.0
13
54.2
0.0
0.0
11
46
13
54
21
Nagaland
2
1
50.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
1
50.0
0.0
1
50
1
50
22
Odhisha
1245
650
52.2
32
2.6
2
0.2
517
41.5
35
2.8
8
0.6
684
55
560
45
1
23
Pondicherry
6
3
50.0
1
16.7
0.0
2
33.3
0.0
0.0
4
67
2
33
24
Punjab
176
46
26.1
7
4.0
1
0.6
74
42.0
38
21.6
10
5.7
54
31
122
69
25
Rajasthan
918
248
27.0
80
8.7
44
4.8
290
31.6
114
12.4
141
15.4
372
41
545
59
1
26
Tamil Nadu
538
201
37.4
146
27.1
113
21.0
54
10.0
13
2.4
11
2.0
460
86
78
14
27
Telangana
537
203
37.8
114
21.2
133
24.8
73
13.6
5
0.9
9
1.7
450
84
87
16
28
Tripura
22
8
36.4
0.0
0.0
11
50.0
3
13.6
0.0
8
36
14
64
29
Uttar Pradesh
646
358
55.4
102
15.8
21
3.3
118
18.3
32
5.0
15
2.3
481
74
165
26
30
Uttarakhand
45
23
51.1
3
6.7
2
4.4
9
20.0
4
8.9
4
8.9
28
62
17
38
31
West Bengal
721
417
57.8
87
12.1
34
4.7
117
16.2
34
4.7
31
4.3
538
75
182
25
1
Total
14275
7043
49.3
1880
13.2
1006
7.0
3328
23.3
591
4.1
421
2.9
9929
70
4340
30
6
*****
Declining water levels in wells
(Release ID: 1848479)
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