West Bengal schools, colleges to remain shut till 22 April, says CM Banerjee

“All educational institutions, including schools, colleges, universities will remain closed from Monday till Saturday next week, keeping in mind the severe heatwave conditions.”

“I urge the private educational institutions to do the same during this period,” Banerjee told a Bengali news channel.

CM Banerjee said children have been complaining of headaches and other health issues after coming back from school in the last few days.

The CM said an official notification in this regard will be issued soon.

“I will also request people to avoid coming out in the sun from 12 pm to 4 pm,” she said.

The West Bengal government had earlier announced preponing the summer vacation in state-run and aided schools by three weeks to 2 May, except in the hill areas, due to the sweltering heat.

“All autonomous, state, central government aided and private universities and affiliated colleges in the state except in Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts will remain closed for a week from April 17 due to the prevailing heatwave situation” the West Bengal government has directed earlier

Most places in the state have been recording day temperatures in excess of 40 degrees Celsius, and the MeT Department has forecast that heatwave conditions will continue till 19 April.

Indian Metrological Department (IMD) official Naresh Kumar said to news agency ANI that orange alert has been issued regarding heatwave in many states, including West Bengal.

The weather department said maximum temperatures are three to five notches above normal in many parts of the western Himalayan region and northeast India, West Bengal.

Earlier this month, the Met office predicted above-normal maximum temperatures for most parts of the country from April to June, except parts of the northwest and the peninsular regions.

A heatwave is declared if the maximum temperature of a station reaches at least 40 degrees Celsius in the plains, at least 37 degrees in coastal areas and at least 30 degrees in hilly regions, and the departure from normal is at least 4.5 degrees.