Nagpur: Taking note of sizzling heat due to early onset of summer, Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has scaled down the timing of schools of Maharashtra State Board for Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, till 10.30 am.
In a notification issued by Municipal Commissioner Radhakrishnan B on Monday, the schedule for schools in city limits has been fixed from 7 to 10.30 am. The decision stems from concern about children and to prevent chances of heat stroke as rising temperature becomes unbearable.
Earlier, sticking to the State Government’s directives, the civic body had issued a notification fixing school timings till 12 noon. The decision was in pipeline since April 1 as schools were in the last leg of the current academic session, with annual exams being conducted for students. At 12 noon when the session is over, the weather outside, at present, is too hot to handle. Also in many schools reports of children fainting during assembly and while writing papers also appeared sweating. By the time children reached home the temperature was too unfavourable. Hence to spare trouble for children and their parents, NMC has decided to further trim the school timings till the end of the session, that is April end.
Though high temperature during summer is a common feature in Vidarbha and Nagpur in particular, this year the scorch, however, proved to be very troublesome. Mercury is hovering constantly above 40 degrees Celsius in the month of April itself and the Meteorological Department is constantly issuing warnings of heatwaves. The decision of NMC to cut down school timings has been welcomed by citizens who termed it as a timely call.
