Kerala rain | Ernakulam collector draws flak after delay in declaring holiday for educational institutions

Ernakulam collector Renu Raj said that the holiday was announced in view of the field situation and children’s safety

Ernakulam district collector Renu Raj came in for considerable flak from parents over her perceived delay in announcing holiday for educational institutions on August 4 in view of the incessant rain.

On her part, Dr. Raj said that it was a discretionary call taken by her based on the field reality considering the safety of the children though there was no ‘Red’ alert for the day and hence no need for declaring a holiday as per the protocol. Incidentally, the weather forecast for the district was upgraded from ‘Orange’ (heavy to very heavy rain) to ‘Red’ (extremely heavy rain) alert much later.

She declared holiday for all educational institutions, including professional colleges, around 8.30 a.m. by which time majority of the students, especially of CBSE and ICSE schools where classes start relatively early, had already reached their institutions. That triggered a social media barrage in the form of comments ranging from sarcastic and outright funny to angry rants and anguish cries on her official Facebook page.

A large number of parents were confused about whether classes will go ahead as scheduled or children will be sent back in the wake of the declaration of holiday by the collector. Taking note of this, Dr. Raj made another post about 45 minutes later clarifying that schools, which had already started functioning may hold classes as usual and need not send back the students.

However, this brought a fresh round of critical comments and even trolls. A funny post by a parent said that he was midway back to school to pick his kid when the collector’s second post came catching him in no man’s land between the school and home.

Dr. Raj clarified that she had taken the call in view of the morning trend and reports from taluks of rising water levels in major rivers. She said that she didn’t want to risk the safety of the children and keep them in school till the evening. “There was no need for the forceful closure of schools that had started already since they could have sent back children early. We cannot stay away from taking decisions based on field reality fearing Facebook backlash (sic),” Dr. Raj said.

She, however, admitted to the inconvenience faced by parents in the wake of the abrupt declaration and promised to avert it in future.