Parents of school-going children were a confused lot on Monday morning as ambiguity prevailed over the extension of summer vacation in city schools. The state government late Sunday night announced a week-long extension of summer vacation for students on account of the hot weather. On Monday morning, a circular was issued by the director general, secondary education, Haryana, citing “intense heat wave conditions prevalent throughout the state” as the reason for the extension of the summer break. As per the circular, all private and government schools in the state are to remain closed till July 7.

While some schools took cognizance of the late night update shared by the Haryana government on Sunday, several schools informed parents about the holiday extension only on Monday and communicated the message to students when they turned up for school.

Paromita Ghosh sent her daughter, a Class 6 student of The Shri Ram School Aravali, to school on Monday. Ghosh said that there was no message from the school till Monday morning and hence she decided to get her daughter ready for school.

“It would have better if the information had been conveyed a little earlier in the day. The weather has been bad for quite some time and the temperature didn’t suddenly shoot up in one day,” she said.

Other parents also echoed the sentiment and said that the government should have informed the schools in advance. Sushma Singh, the mother of a Class 2 student of Shalom Hills School, said that she saw the message tweeted by the chief minister’s office late at night but received a formal message from the school only at 6.45am on Monday.

While government schools have given the extension to students of all classes, private schools in the city have not extended the vacation for all classes, given that the circular is not specific. The District Public Relations Officer, however, said that it was implied that the break had been extended for all classes.

Aparna Erry, principal, DAV Public School, Sector 14, said that the school communicated the message to students in the morning. “Information about the extension was circulating on social media, but it was unverified. We waited for the official order which came on Monday around 9.30am,” said Erry. Scottish High International School worked on Monday but has given the holiday Tuesday onwards for all classes. “We received information from the government late at night. We couldn’t have informed the parents at midnight,” said a school spokesperson.

The principal of a city school, who did not wish to be quoted, said that most schools were open on Monday since they received the government’s message late.

Barring a few, most schools in the city have decided to comply with the government directive and have informed parents about the extension of the break through emails and messages. The Heritage Experiential Learning School is among the schools that are yet to extend the break.

Pooja Chhabra , whose son studies in Class 4, said that the school is scheduled to open on July 3 after the break. A spokesperson from the school said that the institute had arrangements in place to tackle the heat, and so far, the school had not taken a call on the extension.

Sushil Gaur, block education officer, Gurugram, said that the message from the government in Chandigarh had been communicated late on Sunday. “Delays are bound to happen when decisions like these are taken. We tried to inform schools as early as we could,” said Gaur. He added that a few schools might have opened on Monday, but largely, the directive was being followed.

First Published: Jul 02, 2019 12:25 IST