Students celebrate on hearing the news of summer holidays. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, April 28: The much-anticipated wait for summer vacations has at last ended.

The state government today issued a circular announcing summer holidays for all schools from May 2 to June 16. “This will be applicable to both government and private schools,” a senior official in the department said.

However, unlike the previous two years, the summer vacations have come right on time and not early.

In 2009 and 2010, the acute heat wave conditions had forced the state government to announce an early vacation, which started from April 21. With the mercury showing no signs of falling, the vacations had to later be extended for another week.

Children, of course, are beaming with joy. “We have been planning for the vacations for a long time. It’s great to know that they are finally going to begin,” said Sunny Jain, a Class VI student. Jain and his cousins will join a water sports camp conducted by scuba diver Sabir Bux. Other like Subudhi Rath of Capital High School plans to visit his uncle in Mumbai. “We had been there last year, and it was great fun,” said Rath.

Teachers appeared to be equally thrilled. “It is good that the summer vacations are here on time. We will have no difficulty in completing courses as per the schedule,” said Priyanka Meher, a teacher.

The temperatures have remained below 40 degrees Celsius in many places in the state. Bhubaneswar has witnessed a temperature between 30 and 35 degrees for the past one-week.

Although the announcement of summer vacations has brought smiles to the faces of students and teachers, many of them still remember the gruelling summer last year. The condition was worse in government schools due to absence of proper drinking water facilities and defunct fans. “It was horrible last year and worse in 2009. I remember the frequent power cuts and it was hell for both students and teachers. It’s a lot better this year,” said teacher Binati Mishra.

“The downpour in between have kept the temperature down. It’s at least bearable. In any case, vacations are always good news,” said Pratima Mohanty another teacher.

Priya Abraham

Bhubaneswar: The nail-biting wait for summer vacations has just got over. The state government today issued a circular announcing summer holidays for all schools from May 2 to June 16.

“This will be applicable to both government as well as private schools,” a senior official in the department said.

However unlike the previous two years, the summer vacations have come ‘right on time’ and not ‘early’.

In 2009 and 2010, the acute heat wave conditions had forced the State Government to announce an early vacation. The vacations were announced from April 21. With the mercury showing no signs of falling, the vacations had to be later extended to another week

Children of course are beaming with joy. “We have been since long been planning for the vacations. Its great to know that its finally going to begin,” said Sunny Jain, a class six student.

Jain along with his cousins will be joining a water sports camp conducted by scuba diver Sabir Bux .

Other like Subudhi Rath from the Capital high school plans to visit his uncle at Mumbai. “We had been there last year and it was great fun,” said Rath.

Teachers appeared equally thrilled. “Good that the summer vacations are in time. We will have no difficulty in completing course as per the schedule,” said Priyanka Meher, a teacher.

The temperatures have remained below 40 degrees Celsius in many places in the state. Bhubaneswar has witnessed a temperature between 30 to 35 degrees for the past one-week.

Although the announcement of summer vacations has brought smiles to the faces of students and teachers, many of them still remember the horrors of last years’ summer.

The condition was worse in government schools in the absence of proper drinking water facilities and defunct fans.

“It was horrible last year and worse in 2009. I remember the frequent power cuts and it was like hell for both students and teachers. It’s a lot better this year,” recalled Binati Mishra, a teacher.

“Specially the rains in between have kept the temperature cooler. It’s at least bearable. In any case vacations are always a happy news,” said Pratima Mohanty another teacher.