Panaji schools mull closure as water crisis enters day 5

PANAJI: As the water crisis in Panaji entered the fifth day on Monday, educational institutions were considering shutting down the schools till regular supply was restored.
Worried about students getting infection and falling sick, Disha School for Special Children took the preemptive measure by declaring a holiday for its 60-odd students at its two city centres on Tuesday.It was also forced to postpone a medical camp scheduled on Tuesday.
At another city school, students and teachers were forced to venture out of the school premises to use the public toilet at the Panaji municipal garden.
“All our water is over. A private tanker had agreed to bring us water, but said could only deliver it on Tuesday afternoon because of demand. We do not even have drinking water and the 20L and 5L packaged drinking water cans are also out of stock,” manager of the school and secretary of the Disha Charitable Trust Sandhya Kalokhe told TOI.
The principal at another affected school in Tiswadi said the government should have given priority to schools.
“Children require water when they come to school early in the morning. We hope the situation doesn’t arise where we have to declare a holiday. We cannot afford to lose out on another instructional day,” the principal said.
Kalokhe said she didn’t want to take chances with children’s health. “We have sent out a notice to all parents about the holiday. Most of them stay in Tiswadi, so they understand the situation. What if the children get an infection? We cannot let that happen,” she said.
“Luckily, none of the children were unwell, had an ‘accident’ or needed to be cleaned up on Monday. It’s very difficult to manage little children when such situations arise,” Kalokhe said.
One of the students from the city school said the water tank was empty and there was no water in the toilet, forcing them to use the public toilet. “We had to use the municipal garden toilet last week also,” the student said.
Altinho-based Nirmala Institute of Education that has at least 300 students, including residential children in its hostel, has ordered for two barrels to store water as well as a pump.
Deciding to teach its students rainwater harvesting by example, the institute fitted two large tanks last year to collect water from the rooftop, which was sent to its borewell to replenish the groundwater. This has come to their rescue in these trying times.
“We have been trying to conserve the municipality water that we have stored by using harvested rainwater for cleaning and in the washrooms,” officiating principal Sister Delia Antao said.
The institute was relieved after the public works department assured to provide them with a water tanker on Tuesday.
“We only rely on PWD water. We are not sure where private tankers source their water. We cannot afford to put so many students’ lives at risk,” she said.