The Mamata Banerjee government has achieved what many would have thought impossible: make school students desperate to get back to their classrooms with the longest summer break in memory.

State and state-aided schools had reopened on Monday after an unscheduled 35-day heat break, only to go into their routine summer recess from Wednesday. The twin spells with just two days of classes in between works out to 61 days, including a weekend to round off a vacation that many don't want.

In the eyes of parents and teachers worried about the syllabus being left incomplete, Mamata's munificence is a classic case of sparing students the heat and spoiling their studies.

"It is not as though only our children would have had to bear the heat. There are children in private schools who attended classes through the summer with only a couple of days off or curtailed timings. Are our children weaker than those studying in private schools?" said Aditi Ghosh, whose daughter is a student of Class VIII at Bethune Collegiate School.

Education minister Partha Chatterjee had announced the heat holidays on April 9, quoting chief minister Mamata as saying that schoolchildren must be spared the heatwave torment. There have been only seven heatwave days since April 11, the last one on May 1, but state-aided schools have stayed shut throughout.

"They could have been given seven or 10 days off from school at the most. Why 35?" the mother of another Bethune Collegiate girl demanded to know.

The never-ending break is at odds with the Trinamul government's professed objective of exploring a teaching-learning method that would eliminate the tendency among students to take private tuitions.

Many teachers and parents said a total of 61 school holidays in 63 days - some institutes might end their summer vacation a little earlier - had left the door ajar for more tuition dependence to make up for the shortage of classroom teaching.

"More of classroom teaching and objective-type questions that require texts to be taught and learned thoroughly are the components of greater interaction among students and teachers. By keeping students at home, the government is only encouraging them to rely on private tutors to complete the syllabus for them," a parent rued.

While many students would take the tuition route if their parents can afford the extra expenditure, state and state-aided schools have a large section of first-generation learners whose parents are neither able to help them with their lessons nor pay for private tuition.

"After classes, we approach our subject teachers to ask for help in answering the model questions or clear our individual doubts. Since classes haven't been held for a long time, I am finding it difficult to cope. I don't have a private tutor and my father immediately cannot afford to give me one either," said Md. Hasibur Rahaman, a Class XII student at Jodhpur Park Boys' School.

Baarnika Debnath, a Class XII student of science at Bethune Collegiate School, said extra holidays also meant cutting down on practical classes. "We have 90 minutes of practical classes in physics, chemistry and biology every week, which we have already missed for a month. This also means losing out on extra tips to do better in examinations," she said.

A principal of a south Calcutta school said students of Class XII were the "worst sufferers".

"Class XII students have hardly been in school during the new academic session and they have a pre-test lined up in August. After they return from the Puja holidays, it will be time for the (selection) test. December is the time to submit examination forms. So where does that leave us?" the principal said.

Hurrying through the syllabus is the only option, if only to escape scrutiny. "We can complete the syllabus in a day, but how will students follow what is being taught?" said a teacher of Bengali in a state-run school.

When Bethune Collegiate School had reopened on Monday, Metro spoke to scores of students who said they couldn't wait to return to their classrooms. During the morning assembly, a teacher announced that classes wouldn't be held on Tuesday because of the joint engineering entrance examinations.

The school is scheduled to reopen on June 13, but students have been asked to keep an ear out for any new announcement by the government. A monsoon vacation is unheard of, but in Bengal you never know.

How has the never-ending summer break affected your child's studies? Tell ttmetro@abpmail.com