Students will have ‘home’ near school during rains

The last few days of heavy rains have brought into focus the preparedness of city schools in dealing with disasters. The important question which schools need to answer is: What should be done in situations like these? The Hiranandani Foundation School in Powai may have an answer. Just last week the school formulated a ‘disaster management plan’. However, the rains hit hard just before it could be fully put into practice.

As per the plan, parents of students living close by filled in forms stating the name of one student they would “take care of”, should disaster strike. This student would usually be living far off. “At the time of a disaster, the parent who has volunteered would come to school and pick up her son/daughter and the other child as well. The system was just being set and the rains came pouring down,” said Padma Vaswani, principal, Hiranandani Foundation School. According to Vaswani, the success of the plan depends on how responsive the parents are. 

Several parents did take heed, though. Rachna Kapoor, a parent, collected her daughter and a friend from the school. “We had filled in the form and it was our responsibility to collect her friend. It is a good idea considering the difficulties these children faced last year,” she said. Shanu Salunke, the student who stayed with the Kapoors, stays in Marol, Andheri.

“Last year, things were very bad. We could not get in touch with our parents and were wading through deep water. This year, we had fun, mainly by keeping away from books,” said a happy Shanu.

Zhabiya Lokhandwala, another student,  was forced to come out on the pavement at Saki Naka in the aftermath of 26/7. “I feel secure living with a friend,” she said of her experience this year. “We have tried our best to look after our kids. I would appeal to parents to take an active part in this. Also, the media should give us timely information of such a disaster,” said Vaswani.