Teachers and staff team up to get Dubai's private schools open after historic rain

Maintenance teams worked night and day to ensure a safe return for pupils

Support staff at Gems Legacy School in Dubai hard at work before pupils returned to the classroom. Gems Legacy School

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Major clean-up operations took place at private schools in Dubai, where auditoriums and classrooms were flooded, false-ceilings collapsed and shades were blown away as the worst storm since records began hit the UAE last week.

Maintenance teams stayed overnight for several days to ensure campuses would be ready to welcome pupils for in-person classes as soon as possible.

While many schools opened doors to pupils for face-to-face classes on Monday, others extended remote learning due to staff and pupils living in areas that remain affected by flooding.

Rebecca Coulter, principal of Dubai British School Jumeirah Park, said the school was able to open for face-to-face lessons on Monday despite their auditorium flooding.

“We need some repair work in our auditorium, which was our worst-hit area,” said Ms Coulter.

“We were struggling as the roads around Jumeirah Park were heavily flooded.

“Our facilities and cleaning teams worked tirelessly to remove water from the site and restore the buildings to full working order. The resilience shown by everyone was incredible and we are so thankful to work with such a dedicated and caring team.”

Many private schools decided to take preventive steps to ensure their campuses would be safe.

Preparing for the storm

Rajiv Raghavan, school operations manager at Gems Legacy School with about 6,500 pupils, said he faced a unique challenge as the buildings on site were more than 30 years old.

Before the rain, the maintenance team ensured all windows were bolted, furniture was moved and elevators were switched off.

Vulnerable areas, such as electrical and server rooms, were identified and protected to prevent long-lasting damage.

“There have been a lot of leaks in various places; the shades came down and false ceilings have fallen,” Mr Raghavan said.

“As much as we were prepared, we didn't anticipate the commute would be so difficult for staff. For the first 24 to 48 hours, it was just one team that was continuously there at the school.

“They were the real heroes because they had to work continuously with no breaks and ensure they plugged [leaks] wherever required. In fact, there was even a day when, for probably close to about 14 to 18 hours, even providing them with food became difficult because there was no delivery mechanism functional.”

Overcoming adversity

Dino Varkey, group chief executive of Gems Education, said last week's floods presented unprecedented challenges to the entire country.

“Our support teams at all of our schools across the UAE rose to the occasion magnificently,” he said.

“Their remarkable efforts ensured that the majority of our students could return to their classrooms this week. I commend their outstanding efforts and salute their great work on behalf of our communities throughout the year.”

John Bell, principal at Bloom World Academy, said the rain had caused some leaks but the school managed to avert damage due to action taken by maintenance staff.

“Our school has remained pretty safe. We weren't adversely affected by the weather,” said Mr Bell.

“Our facilities team slept in the school for two days. They stayed in school and slept here to make sure all the leaks were plugged, so we didn't have any areas of damage. Only one small office was damaged.”

Alison Baldwin, manager of school operations for a cluster of Gems Education schools, said that while there had been damage across various areas, most of it was not severe.

“There was a lot of [damaged] ceiling tiles, shades, and leaks. This looks very dramatic but they're actually very quick and easy things to repair. It was a lot of superficial damage,” she said.

“In some schools, we had leaks affecting electrical rooms, meaning that power was lost in some places, especially where Dewa support was required to reinstate the power.”

Ms Baldwin said the lack of electricity meant some faced delays in restarting their maintenance work, while teams struggled to commute to schools due to waterlogging and roads being blocked.

“Now all schools have been opened and are safe to use. There may be some playground resurfacing that might be needed in certain areas, so there will be some work that will take a little bit longer to resolve,” she said.

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