Year-long campaign against alcohol and drug abuse planned
The Hindu
Ernakulam is one of the most liquor-addicted districts
Ernakulam, which has been identified as one of the most liquor-addicted districts in the country, has 2,300 hotspots of alcohol and drug abuse, as per a survey conducted by the Social Justice Department in association with Kudumbashree. The findings of the survey were discussed at a meeting here recently to mark the end of the month-long intense awareness campaign under the Union government’s Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan to salvage the district’s reputation. “We are planning to actively intervene in these hotspots in coordination with excise, police, and health departments, Kudumbashree, and local bodies in a year-long campaign starting from August 15. We are hopeful that it will help curtail the availability of alcohol and drugs in these hotspots and strip the district of its dubious distinction,” said Subair K.K., District Social Justice Officer.Several principals of government and private schools in Delhi on Tuesday said the Directorate of Education (DoE) circular from a day earlier, directing schools to conduct classes in ‘hybrid’ mode, had caused confusion regarding day-to-day operations as they did not know how many students would return to school from Wednesday and how would teachers instruct in two modes — online and in person — at once. The DoE circular on Monday had also stated that the option to “exercise online mode of education, wherever available, shall vest with the students and their guardians”. Several schoolteachers also expressed confusion regarding the DoE order. A government schoolteacher said he was unsure of how to cope with the resumption of physical classes, given that the order directing government offices to ensure that 50% of the employees work from home is still in place. On Monday, the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) had, on the orders of the Supreme Court, directed schools in Delhi-NCR to shift classes to the hybrid mode, following which the DoE had issued the circular. The court had urged the Centre’s pollution watchdog to consider restarting physical classes due to many students missing out on the mid-day meals and lacking the necessary means to attend classes online. The CAQM had, on November 20, asked schools in Delhi-NCR to shift to the online mode of teaching.