All schools, early childhood services, Kura and tertiary institutes are to remain shut for in-school learning till February 7th, as ordered by the Education Ministry.
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) asked the ministry to help minimize the traffic on Auckland roads as the vital infrastructures are being repaired. All the school principals were instructed to keep the work closed until the situation is normalized.
The education ministry’s order covers the area from Pukekohe in the South to Wellsford in the north. Vaughan Couillault, the President of Secondary Principals’ Association expressed surprise about this sudden situation. He said, “We weren’t expecting that to be fair, but the principals I’ve spoken to in the last 20 mins all sort of go, ‘we understand’. “It’s not about schools not being safe.”
Several Schools including Remuera Primary School that were affected by flooding were already planning to remain closed for a day. Stephen King, its Principal disclosed that the water levels inside reached one meter leaving their storage room in a bad state.
Speaking about the situation, he mentioned, “The hall has leaked quite badly, we’ve had a resource room that’s leaked quite badly, and then probably two or three other classrooms where it’s obvious leaking’s occurred.
I’m sure there’s things I’ve missed. We decided what was going to be safest for staff and students was to take a moment, pause, ensure the campus was fully safe for kids to return.”
He further added that the staff members were facing the need to clean up their own homes, and few others are stuck outside Auckland city, making the things complicated.
