Agonising heat pushes Odisha government to start summer vacation in schools one day early

Bhubaneswar: With entire Odisha sizzling under a blistering heat-wave, the state government which had earlier declared school holidays till Tuesday, announced on Monday summer vacation in advance. As the temperature is likely to hover around 42 degrees Celsius in most places in the next few days, the summer vacation in the schools will start from Tuesday, Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) P K Mohapatra said. In view of the heat wave prevailing across the state, the schools would reopen after Raja festival as usual, he said. The state government had earlier announced closure of schools, both government-run and private ones, till 20 April and subsequently decided to extend the school holidays till 26 April in view of the weather condition. [caption id=“attachment_2747850” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Getty Images[/caption] As summer vacation was advanced, the loss in terms of study days because of the long holidays would be compensated by conducting extra classes after Raja festival, the SRC said. There would be no classes but the schools can conduct the examinations in the morning and evening hours, the SRC said. The heat wave continued unabated with Titlagarh in Bolangir district becoming the hottest place in the country on Sunday by recording 48.5 degrees Celsius which was a record for this Western Odisha town in April. The mercury remained above 44 degrees Celsius in as many as eight places in the state, while in 17 towns it soared above 40 degrees Celsius on Sunday.