All schools told to stay closed till Jan 14 as cold tightens grip on Gurgaon

However, parents said they haven’t received any word from the school authorities on the extended winter break

Confusion prevailed over re-opening of schools in the city, as stat education minister Ram Bilas Sharma on Sunday issued an order stating that all schools, government as well as private, will remain closed till to January 14 due to the bitterly cold weather in the state.

Kids and the elderly have been mostly affected by the chill and poor air quality. (Parveen Kumar/HT PHOTO)

The district administration was to receive an order from state government by late Sunday evening.

While some of the private schools in the city are supposed to open on Monday, government schools will resume classes after January 10.

Asked if the Gurgaon district administration will issue an order to all schools to remain closed till January 14, Vinay Pratap Singh, the deputy commissioner of the city, said, “We are waiting for orders from the state government.”

On Sunday, the city recorded a minimum temperature of 6°C, down from 7.2°C on Saturday. The state government took the decision to ask all schools to stay closed till January 14 after weighing the steady dip in the city’s minimum temperature and dense fog over the last one week.

However, there was little clarity among students and parents on whether schools will stay closed till January 14. Many parents said that they weren’t informed of this decision by the school authorities.

“I will be sending my sons to their schools tomorrow (Monday), as I didn’t receive any word from the authorities on an extended on account of the cold weather,” Anshul Kapoor, father of a student of Scottish High International School, said.

Another parent, Sangeeta Agarwal whose daughter studies in Shikshantar School, said, “The school is supposed open on January 10 after the winter break and I am not aware of any change in schedule.”

Read I Gurgaon: Pollution and cold send residents to sick bed

However, some parents aren’t all that worried over the lack of clarity in the matter, as the schools where their children study are supposed to open after January 15.

Jitesh Sehgal, one such parent, said, “My children are in Shiv Nadar, which will open on January 15. Hence, I don’t have much to worry about this order.” He said most schools in the city will reopen on January 15.

On November 7, Haryana’s director of school education had directed all schools across the state to change their timings from 9am to 3.30pm till November 30 because of a spike in the city’s pollution levels and low visibility in the morning.

On November 4, 2017, four city schools declared that they will stay closed till the pollution level drops. On November 8, eight other schools also decided to stay closed for some days due to high pollution levels.