The All Uttarakhand Parents Association (AUPA) has pitched for closure of all schools of the State till January 25 as the children are forced to go to the schools in extreme cold.
The entire northern part of India including Uttarakhand is under spell of cold wave like condition these days. On Wednesday, the state capital recorded a minimum temperature of 7 degree centigrade while the maximum temperature was 22.2 degrees. A day earlier the mercury was at 19.8 (maximum) and 6.1 degrees (minimum) forcing the people to remain indoors for most part of the day. Incidentally the children are forced to bear the onslaught of cold weather as the schools have reopened after the winter vacation.
The state President of the AUPA, Neeraj Singhal told the Pioneer that the government should declare holidays in the schools till January 25 so that the little ones are spared the ordeal of facing the cold wave like conditions. He suggested that the state government should ask the education department to shift the winter vacations. “From last many years it is seen that January is the coldest month of the year. Traditionally the winter vacations in most of the schools take place in month of December. It is high time that the education department should shift these vacations in the month of January so that the little ones are spared from the extreme weather,’’ he said.
The AUPA has also dashed off a letter to District Magistrate (DM) of Dehradun Ravi Nath Raman in which a request to extend the winter vacations is made. The Chief Education Officer (CEO) of Dehradun Mukul Kumar Sati told The Pioneer that there is no proposal as yet to extend the winter vacations. He said that the pre board examinations in the schools are going on at present. The CEO however added that the proposal to shift the winter vacations in the month of January in all schools (both government and private) is a good idea. In the government schools of the state the winter vacations started from January 1 this year and ended on January 15