Anse Boileau primary pupils sent home early as school grounds flood |06 March 2020

The ground of Anse Boileau primary school under water

Several areas were flooded yesterday as a result of the heavy rainfall that swept the country and like always the flood-prone Anse Boileau school was not spared and due to this students were sent home.

A team from the Ministry of Education accompanied by the principal secretary for Early Childhood, Primary and Secondary Education, Odile De Comarmond, went on site to assess the situation.

“Once we got to the primary school we saw that the entire field was flooded due to the overflowing of the marsh,” said the PS.

She also noted that the flood also affected a corridor where students had to wade through the water to get to the other side.

The PS added that the ministry reached out to the meteorological service in order to know the way forward and they were advised that there is a risk of more flooding once the high tide comes in, so they decided to send the students home early.

PS De Comarmond explained that the ongoing work to fix the drainage system had not been completed as it requires the school to be empty which is why it flooded yesterday.

The secondary school on the other hand was not affected as much as the primary school as work had already been done on the drainage. The only issue was the entrance to the school was completely flooded by the nearby marsh.

“Once we decided to cut the school day short for the primary students we decided to close the secondary school early as the students had to pick up their siblings,” she added.

Now that the schools are on half term holidays today and Monday, it is hoped that the situation would have been resolved come Tuesday when schools resume.

Christophe Zialor