TN education minister issues rain safety orders for schools

Tamil Nadu School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi on Wednesday announced precautionary measures to ensure the safety of students and staff amid ongoing heavy rainfall across the state.

The initiative comes in response to past incidents during the monsoon when waterlogging, unsafe borewells, and electrical hazards in schools posed risks to children, prompting authorities to strengthen safety protocols.

Teachers have been instructed to strictly follow standard operating procedures (SOPs) during heavy rains. These include contacting the Public Works Department (PWD) to drain stagnant water and ensuring borewells are properly covered. Schools have also been directed to inspect and rectify any electrical leakages to prevent accidents.

District Collectors have been empowered to declare school holidays depending on local conditions and rainfall severity.

The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) reported that a well-marked low-pressure area over the southwest Bay of Bengal, near the Tamil Nadu coast, is expected to intensify into a depression within 12 hours and move inland across northern Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and southern Andhra Pradesh. Meanwhile, another low-pressure area over the southeast Arabian Sea has strengthened into a depression. Widespread rainfall continues across the region.