Heatwave in India: Schools across Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab announce early summer vacations

Due to an intensifying heatwave affecting several regions, states across the country are declaring summer vacations for all government and private schools. The India Meteorological Department has issued a heat wave warning for several districts. Check details.

Temperatures between 40 and 47 degrees have been recorded in several locations, including Agra, Kanpur, and Noida. The Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a heatwave advisory for states including Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, and Haryana. Summer vacation has been declared in the majority of states due to concerns about children's health.

Schools closed in Uttar Pradesh

The Basic Education Department declared on Saturday that local schools will be closed for a month owing to the extreme heat and heatwave conditions in Uttar Pradesh. All schools will reopen on June 18. Schools will use an online application to send assignments over the summer break in 2024. This directive must be followed by government schools. The UP's private schools will be closed for the summer from May 20 to 25. The increasing heat have also caused the schools in Noida to close for the summer.

Schools shut in Noida and Ghaziabad

A number of private schools in Noida and Ghaziabad have declared that the summer break for pupils will start this week due to the current heat wave. Due to the rising heat, some other schools have cancelled all outside activities for their upper class pupils. This follows a statement from the Uttar Pradesh Education Department last week requesting that, in light of the heatwave, all elementary schools declare summer vacation starting on May 20.

To provide some respite from the heat, some schools have already scheduled holidays, particularly for younger pupils, according to Dharamvir Singh, the district school inspector (DIOS). He continued by saying that these Noida schools won't return before June 15 and would probably be closed for a month.

Schools likely to be closed in Delhi

Summer vacation for schools in Delhi has been announced only for government and government-aided schools, which means that students of private schools will have to wait for the summer vacation for now. It is believed that the vacation will be announced in all private schools in Delhi between May 15 and 21, 2024. 

In Punjab, schools shut till June 30

With an intense heatwave prevailing in the region and mercury nearing 45 degrees Celsius, the Punjab government on Monday advanced summer vacations for schools. All government, private, aided and other schools in the state will now remain closed from Tuesday (May 21) to June 30. On Sunday, the Punjab government announced a change in school timings and declared that schools would remain open from 7 am to 12 noon. However, keeping in view the intense heatwave, now it has been declared that schools will be closed on Tuesday.

In roughly 40 days, all of these schools will now open. Around June 18, some schools will open, while others will open the final week of June or the first week of July.