Cold Wave, Pollution And Local Orders Leave Parents Guessing About Today’s School Holiday
A mix of cold wave conditions, dense fog and hazardous air quality has prompted multiple state and district administrations to shut schools or tweak timings across parts of North India, but uneven orders and late‑night circulars have left many parents scrambling to confirm whether their child’s school is open today. Education portals report that while Delhi‑NCR, some Uttar Pradesh districts and a few other regions have announced closures or online classes for younger students, others have only advanced winter vacations or changed morning timings, adding to the confusion.
Delhi‑NCR: Primary Classes Shut, Hybrid For Seniors
In Delhi, government and many private schools have suspended physical classes for Nursery to Class 5 as air quality slipped back into the “severe” band and dense fog hit visibility, with these students either shifted to online mode or given a short break depending on the school. For Classes 6 to 11, schools have been allowed to run in a hybrid format, while Classes 10 and 12 continue to attend in person because of pre‑board exams and board‑exam preparation, though all outdoor activities, morning assemblies and sports have been temporarily banned.
The Delhi‑NCR patchwork means some siblings in the same family are at home while others head to school, and parents have been advised to rely only on official WhatsApp groups, SMS alerts and school websites instead of viral “school chhutti” lists on social media.
Uttar Pradesh, Bareilly And Other District Orders
In Uttar Pradesh, the Bareilly district administration has ordered all schools up to Class 8—government, aided and private—to remain closed from 18 to 20 December due to an intense cold wave and dense fog, after the district recorded its coldest day in a decade. Officials cited an orange alert from the India Meteorological Department and warned of higher accident risks on fog‑covered roads, advising parents to keep children indoors unless absolutely necessary.
Other UP districts including parts of Lucknow, Meerut and Saharanpur belt have issued separate winter‑timing orders, pushing school start times to 9 or 10 am, while some have signalled an early start to formal winter vacations from next week if conditions do not improve.
Beyond North India: Weather And Rains Disrupt Classes
In several southern and eastern states, school closures are linked less to pollution and more to heavy rain and local weather disturbances, with select districts in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and coastal Odisha announcing short shutdowns or exam postponements earlier this week. Education websites tracking holiday notifications say school‑holiday rumours have surged nationwide, forcing many district administrations to clarify that only officially notified areas are affected and regular classes will continue elsewhere.
Officials and school heads are urging parents and students to treat social‑media forwards with caution and check only authorised notices, as decisions on closures, online shifts or advanced winter breaks will continue to depend on local pollution readings, IMD fog alerts and district‑level weather assessments over the next few days.
