Wrong call | DSEJ cancels classes on mild weather day

The Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (DSEJ) called off all classes yesterday morning due to a rainstorm warning while classes in kindergartens and primary schools were cancelled for the day.
Despite some heavy showers during the morning, weather conditions had improved during the day. Some caregivers opted to take the classless students to play outside in public parks.
According to TDM reports, a warning was raised by the Macau Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau (SMG) at 06.39 a.m, advising that a rainstorm alarm would be issued later at 8 a.m. In SMG’s audio announcement, unstable weather with showers was announced. SMG cancelled the first alarm at 9:05 a.m, only to announce another at 9.20 a.m., which in turn was cancelled at 14:35.
DSEJ then instructed all grades of preschool, primary school and special education institutions to call off classes for the whole day, and middle schools to call off classes only in the morning.

Children play close to the Nam Van lake yesterday afternoon. The weather was cloudy but mild

However, some parents, who had already sent their children to school, considered this to have been unnecessary. “After 8 a.m, students are already in school. What effect could the rainstorm make?” questioned a father when interviewed by TDM. He noted that he managed to arrange to have his daughter supervised at a tutoring center, adding that the school where his son is studying even forbade students from entering the campus. He thought that the school would take care of the children, as the DSEJ instructions apparently indicate. According to the bureau’s instructions, as posted on its website and broadcast on TV during bad weather days, “schools should keep the campus open and arrange staff to take care of those kindergarten, primary school and special education students who have arrived at the school until the situation is safe for students to go home.”
The Times also knows of cases of kindergarten students who arrived with their caregivers to the schools in the morning unaware of the rainstorm warning (as it was not even raining) and were not even invited to enter the school. A security officer at the entrance of a local kindergarten was left to inform parents that the school day had been canceled and that the infants should return home.
TDM reported on the case of an older student who had already arrived to school and was surprised, saying: “Is it raining?” He explained that he had indeed heard rainstorm news on TV, but that he thought it concerned Hong Kong and hence he still went to school because he saw no rain in Macau.
DSEJ told the Times that it received no complaints regarding what many regard as a wrong call to cancel the school day.
According to the SMG website, the weather today is expected to be “fine apart from cloudy periods.”

‘DSEJ and SMG’s credibility in handling weather events has decreased’

Last month, the Times published a letter to the editor by reader Luke Lienau, that addressed the issue of DSEJ’s wrong calls when cancelling school due to bad weather.
Our reader alleged that “SMG doesn’t understand their own classification systems” and that DSEJ lacks using “reasonable caution when it comes to student safety in these situations.”
“There is an imperative need [for] accurate and confident predictions by the SMG and considered delays and suspensions by the DSEJ to ensure the safety of Macau students and families transporting their children to school,” Lienau said.
“Following the incident back in March in which a delay and suspension were issued inaccurately, despite the fact that it was likely necessary given the potentially dangerous conditions, DSEJ and SMG’s credibility in handling weather events has decreased,” he added.