Kids absent, schools push back timings and sports, parents request for online classes
Telegraph | 7 January 2026
Calcutta Boys’ School has decided to start classes an hour later from Wednesday due to the cold. In many schools, a significant number of students, particularly in primary classes, were absent on Tuesday because of the chill.
Starting Wednesday, Calcutta Boys’ School will begin at 9am instead of the usual 8am, providing a “leeway” for children who commute early in the morning. The school will maintain the regular dismissal time. Students in Classes X and XII, who are scheduled for board practical exams, will follow the usual timings.
The revised schedule will be followed across all campuses in Calcutta, Sonarpur, Beleghata, and Asansol.
Raja McGee, principal of Calcutta Boys’, explained: “We decided to start an hour later because of the weather. We usually make adjustments to our summer timings, but this is the first time, in at least two decades, that we’re revising our winter timings.”
Similarly, Calcutta International School has cancelled all sports practices scheduled from 7am to 8am for this week due to the cold.
Pratima Nayar, junior school principal, said: “The children come for team practice of cricket, basketball and other sports in the morning. We have suspended practice for this week.”
Several private English-medium schools had reopened after the winter break on Monday, with some set to reopen next week.
St Augustine’s Day School in Shyamnagar has also decided to start at 8am instead of 7am.
Principal Rodney Borneo said parents requested online classes. “We received a number of emails from parents on Tuesday morning requesting online classes due to the weather. About 30% of children were absent,” he said.
“We are not shifting to online classes, but absent students will be provided with classwork through our online platform,” he said.
Calcutta is cold, but the outskirts are even colder.
In schools like The BSS School and Mahadevi Birla World Academy, a larger-than-usual number of pre-primary students were absent. At The BSS School, approximately 35% of children in the pre-primary classes were absent. Mahadevi Birla’s vice-principal, Nupur Ghosh, said that many parents had requested the school to close due to the weather.
Most schools in Calcutta begin between 7.30am and 8.20am, and many students travel from surrounding districts, leaving home by 6.30am to make it to school on time.
Priyanka Kar, the mother of a Class VIII boy in Garia, said: “He woke up at 5.30am, and it felt so much colder than usual. We are not used to this kind of cold in Calcutta. Relaxed school timings for a few days would be helpful.”
Several schools have instructed students to dress adequately to stay warm. “We told students to wear full stockings and proper winter clothing to school,” said Damayanti Mukherjee, principal of Modern High School for Girls.