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Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Education, Mr Eddie Ng Hak-kim, at a media session after officiating at the Kick-off Ceremony of IT in Education Centre of Excellence 2015/16 today (August 25):
Reporter: What will the Education Bureau do regarding water tests at schools in this very last week of summer holiday? Will there be follow-up action on the Sham Shui Po primary school, like what tests and other things? Also will there be territory-wide water tests at schools in Hong Kong?
Secretary for Education: Regarding the lead in water incident, I noticed the report last week about a primary school voluntarily conducting its own test on lead in water subject. There were six samples tested. Out of the six, I understand the result of five of them for drinking water was actually negative. So it's healthy in that sense. There was one about a classroom type of tap water test sample reported to be above the standard. Therefore the school is going to continue the retesting of the subject. Recognising that this is approaching the end of the summer (holiday), there's a lot of advice on how to conduct a water testing sample, the standard procedure and how to engage a certified laboratory to conduct the test, etc. As far as I'm concerned, the school has been doing what it's supposed to do. Also recognising the differences between the testing we are conducting right now around some of the public housing estates, actually you'll notice that those living in the residential area every day and there's a priority in these areas, and also recognising the age issue in terms of 6 and below and pregnant women might be more exposed to the risk. Noticing this particular one, we issued last Friday night a special memorandum together with a special update in terms of how to manage the risk of exposing to lead in water subject issued by the Centre for Health Protection. This is an important one. We believe that the school would know how to manage its own subject area. But we need to provide timely and top quality expert advice from the medical profession. Thank you.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Issued at HKT 14:10
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