Chennai schools re-opened on Thursday and the school students could be seen in their uniforms carrying big bags and happily walking towards their schools after two weeks of holidays due to heavy rains.
A huge concern for parents across the city was how safe it would be to send children to schools, and whether schools have taken adequate care to ensure supply of clean water and deal with water stagnation.
A source from the Government High Senior Secondary School in KK Nagar said that even though the schools re-openedon Thursday, there is still some rain-water stagnated in the school premises. Most of the water from the GHSS in KK Nagar was pumped out using motors.
Selvi from the Administration department of the Spartan Exclusive School in Mogappair East said, “There was no water-logging in the school, but the parents were complaining about the pot-holes on the main roads surrounding the school.”
For some schools, water-logging was not the problem, their worry was how to complete the full syllabus by end of the term.
A source from the RMT International School in Thoraipakkam admin said, “As we have proper drainage system in the school, all the water got drained out and the rain-water which entered the class-rooms was removed by the cleaners.”
She added, “We have students till Class VIII and the syllabus that could not be completed in the past two weeks will be completed probably by taking classes on Saturdays.”
British School in Anna Nagar is planning to cover the syllabus by taking few extra classes in the evening or by having classes on Saturdays. “We need to discuss with the parents about when we can keep the extra classes to cover the syllabus that has been missed out by our students”, said a source from the school.
Twenty four schools in Chennai remained shut on Thursday as they were being used as shelter homes for the rain-affected people but are expected to re-open on Friday.
Image Courtesy for all the pictures: Nishanth Krish