Bhubaneswar, April 20 In view of the prevailing severe heatwave condition, the Odisha government on Thursday declared summer vacation of all schools from Friday.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik issued the order for both government and private schools from classes 1-12, officials said.
The School and Mass Education Department has been asked to notify the date of reopening of the schools in due course.
Usually, the summer vacation starts from the first week of May.
However, this year, the state government preponed the date in view of the extreme heat.
Speaking to mediapersons, School and Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Dash said: "The summer vacation of schools was supposed to start from May 4. However, in view of the extreme heat weather condition, our Chief Minister has declared the summer vacation from tomorrow."
As per the academic calendar, the summer vacation will continue till June 16 and schools will open the next day, he said.
However, as the vacation was preponed, the final decision on reopening of schools will be taken after examining the situation in the coming days, the Minister informed.
Besides, a parent-teacher meeting will be conducted on Friday as per the schedule. The parents are advised not to bring their children to the meeting, Dash added.
Earlier, the state government has closed down schools for two times from April 12 to 16 and April 19 and 20 in view of the hot weather.
According to a morning bulletin of India Meteorological Department (IMD), Jharsuguda town in western Odisha recorded a maximum temperature of 41.4 degrees Celsius till 11.30 a.m. on Thursday.
Similarly, capital city Bhubaneswar sizzled with a maximum temperature of 40.2 degrees Celsius.
On Wednesday, as many as 30 places of Odisha recorded a maximum day temperature of 40 degrees Celsius or above.
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