The Patna district administration on Tuesday issued a directive, asking all government and private schools to be closed for summer vacation from May 5.
Patna district magistrate Sanjay Kumar Agarwal issued the directive because of heat wave conditions in the district.
Agarwal said: "Schools are directed to calculate the number of days of summer vacations as decided earlier and accordingly reopen the school. That means the summer vacation will be of the same duration (as decided by the schools), only it will start from May 5."
He also asked sub-divisional officers and district education officers to ensure compliance of the order.
Loyola High School principal Satheesh said he would know such notification for early summer vacation would be directed by the district administration. "The school has already geared up to finish the syllabus and teachers have started giving holiday assignments. We thought there would be some respite from heat wave but it does not seem so," said the principal.
"We are worried that how we would complete the syllabus if the summer vacation ends by the first week of June. Maybe, the weather condition remains same or turns worse. The only option we are left with is to take extra classes to compensate for the loss of studies incurred due to the early holidays," said St Xavier's High School principal Jacob Olickathotty.
Students and parents, however, were happy with the decision. "For the past few weeks, I feel lazy and slept in the classroom after lunch. I am unable to concentrate on studies. I am not going to school regularly and was worried about my attendance. The declaration of early summer vacation is good for students like us who are finding it hard to cope with the intense heat," said Sakshi Sinha, a Class VI student of Notre Dame Academy.
"I have already made plans for the holiday and summer camps. I felt sick by seeing all the students who got ill during classes. Now, I am counting days for the summer vacation," said Harshavardhan Singh, a Class VII student of International School.
Avantika Agrawal, whose son studies in Class II at St Michael's High School, said it was painful for her to send her kid to school in the scorching weather. "My son easily got affected by the intense weather conditions. Last week, he started vomiting at school and fainted. I have planned not to send him until there is some respite. I will note down all the holiday assignment by myself," she added.
"I have to pick and drop my kids at school because of heat wave conditions. It is impossible to send them through school buses which get stuck in the jam for hours," said Tarique Anwer, whose son and daughter studies in Classes II and V, respectively, at St Karen's Secondary School.
Most of the city schools, on the other hand, are working out details about the duration of the summer vacations due to changes they have to make owing to the district administration directive. "We will share details with parents once we give final shape to the revised schedule of the vacation," one of the school principals said.
