Bad weather closes schools

By Soli Wilson 25 February 2019, 12:00AM

Severe weather conditions yesterday on Upolu forced a number of schools to send students home early and closed for the day.

A Manumalo Baptist School staff member – who didn’t want to be identified – told the Samoa Observer that most parents went to school to pick up their children, fearing the weather conditions could worsen. 

Same thing happened at the Ah Mu Academy primary school with a teacher confirming that the school closed at 12.00pm with some parents arriving earlier to ask for their children to be released. 

“At first our management said we should finish at 12.00pm, because we were looking at the weather then and it showed no signs of stopping.

“But there were parents that showed up to excuse their children to be released early, in case anything happened and the roads get too busy for them, to take their kids home.

“But the majority of the students were left so we just continued school for the remaining children while waiting for the rest of them to be picked up.”

A teaching staff at Maagiagi primary school told this newspaper that they originally planned to finish early due to bad weather, as their water supply usually gets polluted by dirty water.

But on second thought, the school decided against it, as finishing early could see children dangerously crossing the river on their own. 

“We were supposed to finish early but our management decided not to later on, because they said in case the children get swept away by the river.

“Most students go through or across Maagiagi river in order to get home and some of them have a habit of swimming while on the way home. And we don’t want anything to happen to them with this sort of weather the river is unpredictable in case it overflows,” she said.

Schools should be back to normal operating hours today, if the weather conditions improve.

By Soli Wilson 25 February 2019, 12:00AM

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