Hsinchu County’s Jhubei Township (竹北) is mulling the installation of electronic drug detection urinals in four elementary schools to test the system for possible further implementation across the county.
According to Jhubei Mayor Ho Kan-ming (何凎銘), the system is intended to counter drug use in schools across the county.
Ho said he had attempted to push through plans to conduct general urine testing for junior-high school students when he served as Hsinchu County councilor from 2010 to 2014, along with United Microelectronics Corp chairman John Hsuan (宣明智), but abandoned the plan as it proved to be too controversial.
Ho said the electronic system would use a microchip developed by professors Lee Chen-yi (李鎮宜) and Lai Yi-tse (賴義澤) that can be programmed to detect ketamine, amphetamine and heroin in urine.
Once urinals with the built-in chips detect traces of drugs, the system transmits the data to the closest server, which would then upload the information to a cloud server, Ho said.
“Police accessing the cloud data could see which schools tested positive to drugs in urine and could then access footage from nearby surveillance cameras to pinpoint likely suspects,” Ho said.
Ho wants to test the system in Fongtian Elementary School, Mayuan Elementary School, Singang Elementary School, Fonggang Elementary School and Fonggang Junior High school.
The system is targeting students from fifth grade upwards throughout all three junior high-school grades, Ho said, adding that it would not be implemented until the schools, its parent unions and parents’ consent had been obtained.
The city government hoped to establish a 200-member group at the Fongtian and Fonggang police stations, hopefully including the deans, department heads, school faculty, police officers and volunteers by the middle of this month to provide help for youths with disadvantaged families, Ho said.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition