Mumbai schools go hybrid amid rain chaos

Streets flooded near Kurla. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

The chaos and rush that followed the last-minute school closures due to incessant rain have prompted many schools to switch to a hybrid mode. Several city schools have informed their staff and parents that, in the event of heavy rain, online classes will be conducted instead of declaring holidays and losing academic hours.

On Monday, following notifications from the BMC and state government, all government and private schools in Mumbai remained closed due to heavy rain. The city recorded over 300 mm of rain in various places between 1 am and 7 am on Sunday and Monday. Waterlogging was reported in several areas, including Andheri, Kurla, Bhandup, King's Circle, and Dadar. Given the heavy rainfall alert, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) declared a holiday for the first session of all schools and colleges in Mumbai. Later, many schools closed for the second session as well.

A principal of a school in Mahim said, "We have already informed parents that we will conduct online classes in situations like this instead of wasting the day by declaring a holiday due to heavy rainfall." Another teacher from a school in Dahisar said, "We have already shared individual email IDs of students from each division so they can log into online classes. We are now prepared to conduct online classes whenever situations like Monday arise."

At many locations, schools remained open for higher classes, but school bus services were suspended due to waterlogging. This created chaos and confusion among many students and parents. BMC's post on X read, "Heavy rain is also expected today. To avoid inconvenience to students, a holiday for the first session is declared for all BMC, government, and private schools and colleges in Mumbai (BMC area). The decision for the next session will be announced after reviewing the situation."

The IMD predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall for Mumbai and surrounding areas on Monday. Several trains were cancelled. "I drop my daughter off at school, so we almost reached there when we got a message from the school administration that the morning session would remain shut. We had to return home. The message was delayed, which caused a lot of confusion. Many other students like my daughter, who walk to school, had already arrived," said Ramakant Dharmadhikari, a parent of a Std V student from Borivali.

Another parent, Kashif Merchant, a resident of Worli, said, "We were informed that classes for Std VIII to IX would be conducted as usual, so we went to the school bus pick-up point. Initially, my daughter thought the bus was delayed due to waterlogging and traffic, but after waiting for 20-25 minutes, she found out that the school buses weren't running. My daughter came back home, and then I had to drop her off at school." Mumbai University exams were postponed due to the heavy rains. All exams of the Centre for Distance and Open Education (formerly IDOL) scheduled for Monday, July 8, from 11 am to 2 pm have been rescheduled to July 13.