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Alex Lo

A new rainstorm warning system for schools is expected before next year's rainy season.

 It follows recommendations by the Ombudsman that the existing system is confusing and problematic for Education Department staff.

 The staff were heavily criticised by parents after failing to close schools on the morning of June 4 despite severe flooding in the territory.

 At present, the warning system is based on actual rainfall measurements.

 But the radical overhaul would rely on forecasts, giving families time to prepare.

 And when the red rainstorm signal was posted, kindergartens and primary schools would automatically shut.

 The Education Department and individual schools currently have to make their own decisions in the event of a red warning.

 The black signal would close all schools, as under the present regulations.

 'The new system envisaged will be similar to the typhoon warning system, which links the closing of offices to typhoon signals,' the Ombudsman's chief investigative officer, Ma Pak-lee, said.

 He said the arrangements would ease the workload for the Education Department's emergency team, which had to decide before 6.15 am whether to close schools before children set off in the morning.

 Both the Observatory and the Education Department have accepted the recommendations in principle and will meet over the next few months to work out details.

 'As long as it is scientifically sound and technically feasible, the Observatory will seek to upgrade its weather warning service,' a spokesman said.

 But he warned that the Observatory did not yet have the same amount of expertise and historical data for rainstorm prediction as it had for predicting typhoons.

 Educators welcomed the proposals, saying it would relieve the Education Department, parents and themselves of the burden of having to make the decision.

 Lee See-yuen, Hong Kong Teachers' Association secretary-general and headmaster of Pui Ching Primary School, said: 'It's good to have a scientific body responsible.

 'Right now, the system means everyone is passing the buck.

 'The department says schools should decide and the schools say parents should decide. The parents have no one to rely on.' 



Schools poised for rain alert overhaul