Rain holidays to impact exams, vacations

Schools and colleges in several parts of the state are to remain shut on Tuesday due to heavy rainfall. They were earlier scheduled to re-open on November 22 but the holiday was postponed as it continued to rain on Monday.

Educational institutions plan their schedule in advance and keep a few days of buffer days for emergencies. However, this time the rain holidays have gone beyond what they had expected and they have been shut for over two weeks. Schools have set up plans to ensure that portions are completed on time, especially Class 9 and above.

“We will have full-day classes on Saturdays and will have to cut down a few days from their Christmas holidays for the senior classes. We will give them projects and assignments to finish the syllabus. We will take the final decisions only after the school reopens and we receive further instructions,” says Kalpalatha Mohan, Principal, Sankara Vidhyashram, Tiruvanmiyur.

The Directorate of School Education had recently announced the timetable for SSLC and Higher Secondary half-yearly examination, scheduled to start from December 7. Schools say they haven’t been informed on the change in schedule of these examination yet.

Students have utilised the extra time to revise whatever has been taught to them. “I have been concentrating in the subjects I am weak in. However, I am worried that they don’t not rush portions once the schools re-open,” says Priyadarshini M, a class XII student.

Schools are set to get on the war footing as soon as they open in order to complete the portions. However, there is another herculean task to clean the schools before the children arrive. Water in many areas have been stagnated for days and schools are making sure that it is all cleared.

“Safety of the students are priority. We started cleaning up the school a week back. The disinfection and sanitation work is in progress. But unfortunately, after a bulk of the work is done, it starts to rain again and it seems like all the work has gone to waste. We start the work again the next day,” Barathi Lakshmi, Head Mistress of Chettinad Vidyashram.