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Weather stations are being set up in 240 schools as part of the Samagra Shiksha, Kerala project under the Chief Minister’s 100-day action plan. This will allow students to record daily weather changes, collect data for deeper analysis and come to terms with microclimatic changes from a young age.
The state has been witnessing tell-tale signs of impact from climate change/global warming as heat waves, unheard till a few years ago, and the extreme rainfall have come to visit it by turns, a source in the Education Department said. It can no longer delay formative training to help students handle weather and environment.
Generating precious data
Under the project, higher secondary and vocational students who study geography as part of the humanities stream will be trained to record extremes of daily temperatures, rainfall, humidity, wind speed and its direction as part of practicals. They will be provided with equipment ranging from a rain gauge, thermometers, wet-and-dry-bulb thermometers, wind vane to a cup counter anemometer.
This exercise would generate data from the areas with no weather station network by the India Meteorological Department or other public and private agencies. The limited number of weather stations in the state has mostly given a skewed picture, for instance, of the spatial and temporal distribution of rainfall.
Major global concern
The school weather stations will allow students to use equipment to record weather conditions and understand the local variations and their impact on the environment. The government hopes this will help enhance interest in the subject among students and enable social interaction through linking public schools with social good. The data could be used even at global level, especially as global warming and climate change are emerging as areas of major concern.
The weather stations will receive support from the India Meteorological Department, Centre for Water Resources Development and Management, and Kerala State Disaster Management Authority. V Sivankutty, Minister for General Education, will inaugurate the project in Kollam on Saturday.
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