Thursday’s downpour threw school dispersal into disarray across the city, with children struggling to board buses and pool cars amid waterlogged stretches. The afternoon thundershower coincided with dispersal time in many schools, inconveniencing students and parents who came to pick them up.
The spell of rain led to waterlogging outside several schools, while a few campuses also reported ankle-deep water within their premises.
At Mahadevi Birla World Academy, water accumulated in a section of the campus and submerged the first step of the junior school building.
At Sri Sri Academy, dispersal was delayed by nearly an hour. Children reached home as late as 5.30pm instead of the usual 3.45pm because of traffic snarls and waterlogging, a school official said.
“We had made the children sit inside the buses, but the buses could not move because of the traffic and waterlogging outside. Dispersal was delayed by more than 45 minutes,” said principal Gargi Banerjee.
Pool cars at most schools took a long time to reach the campuses.
Sri Sri Academy announced through its public address system that children using pool cars would be brought down to the portico in phases. “Instead of bringing them all down at once, children came down as and when their pool cars arrived. This slowed the dispersal process, but we had to be careful,” said Banerjee.
Outside Julien Day School Calcutta, children had to wade through knee-deep water on Heysham Road, delaying dispersal. “Some parents had arrived early and, instead of waiting, we started dispersal ahead of schedule. But despite that, the entire process was delayed because vehicles took a long time to reach the school and leave with the children,” said principal Siddhartha Dey.
Roushna Lahiri Biswas, who travels from Minto Park to Deshapriya Park with her two children, reached home almost an hour later than usual. “It had turned quite dark, and I was praying that a tree would not fall on my vehicle or block the road. The lightning and thunder made it scary,” said Biswas, who was travelling between 2pm and 3pm.
Nupur Ghosh, vice-principal of Mahadevi Birla World Academy, said the school waited for the thunder and lightning to subside before beginning dispersal. Teachers remained on campus until all the children had left. One teacher from the Park Circus school reached her home in Behala after 7pm.