GURUGRAM: The drop in temperature comes days before city schools are due to reopen at the scheduled end of the winter vacation, sparking demands from different quarters for an extension of the winter break, at least for junior sections.
However, school principals ruled out any extension of the vacation since annual exams were round the corner and the syllabus needed to be completed in time.
Sunita Nagpal, principal DPS Sushant Lok, said she did not believe vacations could be extended with exams nearing. “If severe cold continues, we might alter school timings,” she said. “Already schools had to announce closures earlier in October-November because of heavy smog. It won’t be advisable to shut classes now.”
DPS Sushant Lok is beginning its exams on February 27. Nagpal said the school, as a precautionary measure, might scrap physical education classes for some time and curb outdoor activities if the harsh weather continues.
Other principals also ruled out shutting down schools. Their key concern was covering the remaining syllabus in time for the ensuing exams. “Frequent closures hamper the completion of syllabus,” said Aarti Chopra, principal Amity World School, Gurgaon. “We might extend the vacation up to January 16 for students up to Class IV but for the senior classes were resuming classes on Monday.” Chopra is open to relaxing the school opening hours but will prolong the holidays only if the government issues an order. Several other principals echoed the opinion.”Exams will begin at Amity World School in March and we need time to finish the 20% syllabus that needs to be covered and conduct a revision,” Chopra said.
Many schools seemed amenable to the idea of relaxing opening time to 9am from the present 7am.
Sumit Vohra, an educationist and founder AdmissionNursury.com said schools should extend the vacation till January 15, when the cold wave is likely to end. “In Delhi, schools are very responsive to extreme weather,” Vohra said, adding schools must extend vacations for pre-primary classes. “The government must issue notices asking these schools to delay the opening by one or two hours,” Vohra said.
Schools, however, said they had already issued a circular to students on the scheduled reopening. “I don’t think there will be any changes now unless we get something from the government,” said a teacher from Scottish High International School, Gurgaon.
[Source:-TOI]
