Heat is on: Goa declares school holiday today

PANAJI: Due to delay in the onset of the monsoon over Goa and the increase in heat, the directorate of education on Friday issued a circular declaring June 10 as a holiday for all schools.
“Due to extreme heat and delay of the monsoon in the state, it is decided by the competent authority to close down all institutions on June 10. All the heads of government, government-aided, primary, middle, secondary, higher secondary and special schools are hereby requested to compensate for the academic loss in the future, if any,” director Shailesh Zingade said.tnn
For now, the holiday has been declared only for a day and a decision on any further school closure days will be taken based on the arrival of the monsoon and the temperature.
Meanwhile, the Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education has said that the June 10 supplementary exam will take place as scheduled.
Schools are required to complete 220 working days as prescribed by national education norms like the Right to Education (RTE) Act. But when there has been a delay in the monsoon arrival and there has been a rise in temperatures, to ensure comfort of students, the directorate of education has in the past also delayed school reopening.
This year, though the India meteorology department had forecast the delay in monsoon arrival, it was decided to allow reopening of the schools as scheduled on June 5.
But several parents complained that students were finding it uncomfortable to sit through the classes due to the heat.