Kolkata: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced on Thursday that West Bengal schools will begin their summer vacation earlier than usual, starting from April 30, due to unprecedented heat conditions in the region. Speaking to reporters at Nabanna, the state's administrative headquarters, Banerjee cited concerns over students' well-being as temperatures continue to rise across the state. The decision affects both primary and secondary schools throughout West Bengal.
‘The intensity of the heat forced us to revise the traditional May vacation schedule," Banerjee said. "The education minister confirmed this decision." The announcement comes as the region experiences above-normal temperatures at the start of April. Students will benefit from several scheduled holidays before the vacation begins, including Mahavir Jayanti on April 10 and Poila Boishakh on April 14 and 15.
"Including Sundays and other holidays, students will have approximately 12 to 13 days off before the summer break officially begins," the CM added. The education department is expected to issue detailed guidelines to schools regarding the implementation of this schedule change in the coming days.
According to the academic calendar, summer holidays were scheduled for 11 days—from May 9 to May 22. School heads stated that the first summative exams, which started on Thursday, will end before the summer break starts. However, third semester classes for HS students will start shortly, which will be hampered due to the early summer break. One headmaster said, "These students will appear for the third semester exams to be held in Sept. So they need an adequate number of offline classes."However, private schools are yet to make a decision as they are waiting for the govt order to come. St Xavier's Collegiate School principal Father Roshan Tirkey said, "We will start our new academic session from Friday. Our scheduled summer breaks were to start from mid-March. So, we will make a decision based on the weather conditions."
Techno India Group Public School, Garia principal Tania Sen said, "The state govt decision is welcome, only it becomes a little difficult to realign once the session calendars are ready and the session begins. A Climate Action Plan needs to be framed and the school can be informed in advance, which will help to plan the session calendar easily. Usage of Early Warning and Decision Making Systems (EWDS) can enable us to understand the signs of heat waves better and plan the summer vacations accordingly."