On Wednesday, Mumbai and surrounding areas experienced heavy rainfall, prompting the India Meteorological Department (IMD) to issue a red alert for the city and neighbouring districts, including Palghar and Nashik, until Thursday. In response, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) declared all schools and colleges closed on Thursday, 26th September 2024, as a precautionary measure.
Despite this, several schools in different areas of Mumbai and its suburbs made independent decisions about whether to follow the closure directive or continue operations. The Free Press Journal (FPJ) reached out to some of these schools for their responses and explored how parents and principals reacted to the situation.
Schools following regular operations
Podar International School, Nerul chose to continue its regular schedule. Principal Soma Chatterjee explained to FPJ, “It’s a BMC notice, not an NMMC (Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation) notice. If NMMC issues such a directive, we will follow it. But today, it’s not raining at all here, and our half-yearly exams are going on. Why should we close? Only one or two schools in the Panvel division are closed, but the rest, including us, are working.”
Similarly, VIBGYOR Roots and Rise, Malad decided to continue with offline classes. FPJ attempted to reach the principal, Neha Vasudev, for a comment, but she was unavailable. However, parents from the school raised concerns about the safety of their children.
Parental concerns over child safety
Dolly Vishwakarma, whose son Rudra is in 4th grade and daughter Gargi is in 9th grade at VIBGYOR Roots and Rise expressed her apprehension, “I decided that my son Rudra who is in 3rd grade would stay home today because of the rain, but Gargi couldn’t miss school as she has her mid-term exams. It’s difficult to strike a balance when safety is at stake, but exams are important too.”
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Online classes to the rescue
While some schools continued regular classes, many others opted to shift to online learning. Kanakia International School, Chembur and Children’s Academy, Ashok Nagar were among those who swiftly moved to online classes for the day to ensure students' safety while maintaining academic progress.
Principal Sunayana Awasthi of Kanakia International School, Chembur explained their approach, “We were running online classes for Grades 1 to 8 from 9 am to 1 pm.”
Children's Academy, Ashok Nagar also conducted online classes, following a clear procedure whenever the BMC declares a holiday. Principal Sheela Mallya emphasised, "The moment BMC declares a holiday, we go online; we won't say the school is closed. We are having online sessions for all three sections – pre-primary, primary and secondary. For primary, we have cut down the one and a half hours. So it's not a full-day school because too much screen time can be harmful, so we plan accordingly."
She further elaborated, "For secondary, its usual time is from 7:15 am to 12:30 pm. For primary, it's from 1 pm to 4 pm, and for pre-primary, they usually at school have two hours, so we had one hour. Why do we close down when the curriculum is in place in such a way to executive it daily? When there are too many holidays declared, then you have to rush with the curriculum; since we have an online provision in place so, why declare a holiday? Basically, BMC is declaring a holiday because commuting has become difficult; flooded roads and heavy rains. Children can study in the comfort of their homes. So, we do not call a holiday as such; we go online."
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Schools with mixed approaches
Narayana ETechno School took a hybrid approach. Principal Shashikala explained, “For Grades 1 to 10, we conducted online classes. However, for Grades 11 and 12, we continued with offline classes as scheduled.”
This approach reflects the flexibility some schools have adopted, prioritising both the safety of younger students and the necessity for older students to attend classes or exams in person.