Education Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy trolled for last-minute holiday announcement

HYDERABAD: Telangana Education Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy was trolled heavily for the last-minute declaration of holidays to all educational institutions due to heavy rains across the state on Thursday.

Several parents across the city chastised Sabitha Indra Reddy for the delay in declaring holidays to educational institutions for the next two days.

The minister tweeted: “Keeping in view of the heavy rainfall in the state and under the instructions of the Honourable CM, KCR garu, the Govt has decided to declare holidays for two days to all education institutions in the state. That is Thursday and Friday.”

The minister’s announcement came in a tweet by her at 8:18 a.m. on Thursday, while all students would leave their homes between 7 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. in order to be at their respective schools by 8 a.m.

Parents were even more annoyed when they learned that many schools had declared half-days in response to the minister’s announcement, and they were even required to arrange personal pick-ups for the students, causing additional challenges for working parents.

Tweeple poured scorn on the delayed announcement and expressed their woes suggesting that the announcement was delayed and they had to pass through a lot of hardship.

Namrata Sadhwani, a parent, tweeted: “This notification should have actively gone out last night or at least in the early hours of the morning to ensure it reaches all concerned persons on time. How do you announce something so big after 8:00am, knowing that most kids leave from home and schools start much before that! What's the point of declaring this now?! Most kids in the state have already braved the rains and are in school already!”

However, Some others tweeted hailing the decision and suggested that schools outside Hyderabad open at 9 am and the minister’s tweet was helpful.

A few hours following Sabitha Indra Reddy's tweet, Oakridge International School sent an e-mail to parents. "Dear Parents, Due to late notification from the government, we are obligated to close school with immediate effect for two days - July 20, and July 21, 2023. As a result, we are dispersing earlier than the customary time of dispersal today. The new dispersal time today - Thursday, 20 July 2023 will be at 11:00 a.m. Request the own transport to plan the pick up from school at 11.00 a.m. The loss of academic transactions on both days will be covered on Saturdays which will be intimated soon.”

A city parent, Dr. Haseeb Jafferi, said, "So late? kids have also gone to school. I'm curious what took so long to decide."

"Kids already left for school, and now we should bring them back home. If you have to declare a holiday, please decide by early morning, at least by 6 am or 7 am, so that it would be helpful for many housewives mothers to save the morning hurry-burry efforts," another parent said.

Gopal Krishna reacted to Sabitha Indra Reddy's tweet saying, "Madam, it's too late to declare a holiday. I believe no one close to you attended school today; otherwise, you should be more sympathetic. I understand that the situation is impractical until you experience it."

Sabitha Indra Reddy drew criticism not only from city parents but also from opposition leaders. M Raghunandan Rao, a BJP MLA from Dubbaka, took to Twitter and remarked, "Special thanks to the Education Minister for waking up after school children reached and declaring school holidays due to heavy rains for the last two days."