No school bell rang in Senegal this Wednesday morning. The Ministry of National Education announced on Tuesday that the return to class for primary and secondary pupils would be delayed until Monday 12 October across the whole country. In recent years, no such decision had been taken at national level.
Children’s safety comes first, the ministry argues in its statement. From Friday to Monday, torrential rain battered the country, flooding several regions and bringing part of the capital to a standstill. Entire neighbourhoods of Dakar were submerged, and a number of main roads were cut off.
The human toll remains unclear. President Bassirou Diomaye Faye acknowledged on Monday that the bad weather had cost lives, without giving a figure, and offered his condolences to the bereaved families. According to several local media outlets, a mother and her child were found drowned in their home in Dakar during the night of Sunday to Monday.
The extra days are meant for cleaning, sanitising, disinfecting and repairing the schools that were hit. Local authorities, state services and communities are also being asked to use the time to improve access, traffic and transport around school sites. Parents, teachers, unions, youth organisations and civil society groups are urged to pitch in before Monday.
Not every education district was affected to the same degree, however. Why, then, a blanket measure? The ministry points to territorial fairness and equal opportunity: it wants all pupils in the country to resume lessons under the same conditions.
A further delay, on the other hand, appears to be ruled out unless the situation worsens. The Dakar Youth Olympic Games are approaching, and hosting them could disrupt the running of some schools. The authorities therefore want to protect teaching hours as far as possible.
The episode comes during an exceptional rainy season. It normally runs from June to September, but this year it has stretched into October with unusual force. The global outlook offers little comfort, since forecasts for the coming months point to an El Niño event of an intensity unprecedented in the modern era, likely to compound the effects of climate change.