Amid rising heatwave in the state, the Punjab government has announced summer holidays for all government, private, aided, and recognised schools from May 21 to June 30.
On May 18, the school education department in Punjab revised the school timings and opted to keep them open from 7:00 am to 12 pm. Looking at rising temperatures in the state, however, it has chosen to declare early summer vacations.
The Punjab government has preponed the commencement of summer vacation for schools. Initially, the summer holidays were set to begin on June 1. However, due to the intense weather conditions, the vacation period has been extended from May 21 to June 3.
Recently, the director of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) in Chandigarh, AK Singh, said that there is no imminent relief in sight. “This is a very unusual weather pattern. We never had to continuously issue five-to-seven-day red alert warnings in Punjab over the past few years,” Singh had said as quoted by Hindustan Times.
As per the IMD officials, the districts of west Malwa, Fazilka, Muktsar, and Bathinda, are expected to be struck the most by the heat wave during the next five days. Heat waves have also been affecting various districts across the state. On May 19, Bathinda recorded the highest maximum temperature of 46.4⁰C.
Several states in India are known to be dealing with severe heat waves. State administrations, therefore, have said that summer vacations for schools in states will begin earlier for the sake children’s safety and well-being.
Haryana, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh's education departments had declared early summer vacations for schools recently.
In Haryana, schools will have summer vacations from June 1 to June 30, 2024. In Rajasthan, schools were closed from May 17 and will remain closed till June 30. Madhya Pradesh, too, had changed its academic calendar by starting summer vacations from May 1. They will end on June 15.
