Heatwave: School timings changed again in Kashmir; summer vacations early

Education minister Sakina Itoo said that due to the high temperatures, the schools will now close at least an hour earlier from Saturday

Owing to the intense heatwave, the education authorities in Kashmir have again revised the school timings and brought the summer vacation schedule ahead to July 1.

A boy swims in a Dal Lake on a hot day in Srinagar on Friday. (Waseem Andrabi /HT)

Education minister Sakina Itoo said that due to the high temperatures, the schools will now close at least an hour earlier from Saturday. “Since the heatwave is very intense and children are suffering, we have decided to change the school timings. In municipal areas, the classwork will be from 8 am to 1 pm and in the areas outside the municipal limits, the timings will be from 8.30 am to 1.30 pm,” Itoo told reporters.

So far, the schools falling under Srinagar municipal limits were functioning from 8.30 am to 2.30 pm and those falling outside the municipal limits of Srinagar would function from 9 am to 3 pm.

Kashmir is passing through a second heatwave since the second week of June with Srinagar now witnessing record temperatures in 20 years. On Thursday, the meteorological centre said that Srinagar was the hottest in the Himalayan valley at 35.2 degree Celsius, some 6.8 notches above normal, and third highest in history.

The school education department had already changed the timings in May when the valley witnessed its first heatwave between May 18 to 27 with temperatures hovering 6-8 degrees above normal. Itoo said that they have decided that the summer break from July 1, bringing it ahead by at least two weeks in Kashmir.

Usually, the summer vacation in Jammu starts by the first week of July and in Kashmir it commences from the third week.

She said that they will also discuss the possibility of even earlier summer vacations than July 1. “ We will see if that is possible. We can break even earlier,” she said.