Parents who were till Tuesday anxious that open-air schools were exposing their sons and daughters to the afternoon sun are now perturbed at the possibility of rain.
The forecast of rain from Thursday prompted many guardians to demand that classes for students from the pre-primary level to Class VII be held in the safety of classrooms.
The Met office has said rain is expected in Kolkata on Thursday. Light to moderate rain is likely to continue till the weekend across large sections of south Bengal.
Parents said they were waiting in a designated enclosure in the park while the classes were on, instead of going away after dropping their children and coming back later to pick them up, because they are concerned about the safety of the kids attending classes in the open.
Classes of Shastriji Harijan Vidyamandir on Palmer Bazar Road in central Calcutta are being held in a lawn in the school compound that does not have any shade.
Rakhi Shaw said her son, a Class II student in the school, complained of excessive heat over the past two days. She is now worried over the prospect of rain. “Classes must be shifted to the school immediately.”
Holding classes within the four walls of a room will spare them the concerns, the guardians said.
Classes for the students from the pre-primary level till Class VII in government and aided schools are being held in the open since Monday as part of the Bengal government’s Paray Sikshalay project.
At the Bagbazar Sarbojanin Puja ground, in north Kolkata, a pre-primary student threw up on Monday after attending classes on a marbled floor without a shade. On Tuesday, classes were held in the office building on the periphery of the ground.
“If classes can be held in the corridor of a club, why not inside a classroom?” wondered a teacher.
A woman whose son was attending classes at Shyam Park, also in north Kolkata, said the ground would turn slushy once it rained and expressed concern whether classes could be held in such circumstances.
“I am not sure whether it would be advisable to risk the health of my son by sending him to an open-air facility. On some days he is exposed to the mid-day sun and on other days to rain,” the mother said.
Students of Classes II to IV from schools in Ward 8 of Kolkata Municipal Corporation are attending classes in the park, which is close to the Shyambazar five-point crossing.
Classes for the students from Bengali-medium and Hindi-medium schools are being held in separate spots under a makeshift shade erected by the local councillor.