Incessant rain since early Tuesday affected attendance in schools across Calcutta.

While some classes saw attendance drop to 25–30 per cent, others recorded between 50 and 70 per cent.

As the city’s roads were waterlogged, many students and teachers turned up late.

Schools were more flexible on the rainy Tuesday and students were not sent back home. Teachers were not marked late too, said officials of several schools.

“Attendance was poor on Tuesday. In some classes, especially in junior section attendance was as low as 30 per cent,” said Joseph Chacko, senior coordinator, St James’ School.

Some of the other schools that recorded low attendance were BDM International, Loreto Convent, pre-primary sections of Mahadevi Birla World Academy and The Newtown School.

At South Point High School, The BSS School, Calcutta International School and others, attendance was less compared to a usual working day.

“Only 25 per cent of students turned up on Tuesday. In junior section, we had to club classes and engaged the children in fun activities,” said Madhumita Sengupta, principal, BDM International.

Rain had started as early as 4am on Tuesday and parents and children woke up to a dark morning.

In various parents’ WhatsApp groups discussions commenced from 6am whether or not to send children to school. People were taking feedback from each other about areas that got waterlogged.

“The service road near VIP Road Haldiram got inundated. I decided not to send my daughter to school because there is a risk of a car breakdown. Also at 7am it is difficult to assess how the day will turn out to be and it might become a hassle to return home from school,” said a mother whose daughter goes to a central Calcutta school.

Those who made it, did so after much struggle. Swagata Chatterjee who lives near Acropolis Mall in Kasba took her daughter to her school near Minto Park.

“I started around 7.15am and visibility was near zero. My daughter was wearing a raincoat and so her feet got wet. But I got wet because the umbrella did not suffice. But compared to other days the traffic was less,” said Chatterjee.

Several schools said that many teachers could not report to school on Tuesday because of waterlogging in their areas.

“There were quite a number of teachers who could not make it because of huge waterlogging in and around their homes,” said Satabdi Bhattacharjee, principal, The Newtown School.

Many students who could make it got their shoes and socks wet either in the rain or waterlogged streets.

“Waterlogging threw things out of gear in the morning,” said Koeli Dey, principal Sushila Birla Girls’ School.

Moira Street where the school is located was waterlogged and children waded through the water to enter the school.

The school cancelled the morning assembly.

At Mahadevi Birla World Academy, many children attended classes barefoot as their socks and shoes were completely wet.

Calcutta International School, unlike other days, allowed cars to come up to a certain point inside the premises.

“We had extended our in timing from 8.30am to 9am on Tuesday,” said Pratima Nayar, principal, junior school, Calcutta International School.

However, in some schools where the assessments were scheduled children turned up in large numbers.

“Most of our children turned up but for those who could not we will conduct a retest after the rest of the unit tests are over. We usually don’t consider but today was an unavoidable situation,” said Terence John, director of education and development, Julien Day Schools.