New Delhi, April 30 (IANS) The Delhi government Thursday issued an advisory to all schools in the capital to close for summer break in next two days, owing to the ongoing heat wave conditions.
While the government and state-aided schools were to close for the summer break Friday onwards, most of the private schools were not to close before mid-May.

Rina Ray, secretary of education, said: “We issued an advisory to all schools to close for their summer break from May 1 or 2. This move is for the sake of the children.”

“Yesterday (Wednesday) was declared the hottest April day in the last 50 years and the weather has been almost the same throughout the week. We don’t want any untoward incident to happen to any child because of the heat and later get blamed for it,” Ray told IANS.

The maximum temperature recorded Thursday was a sizzling 42.8 degrees Celsius - a good four degrees above normal. According to officials of the Met department, the heat wave conditions will persist over the next few days.

Besides parents, various NGOs, like the Uday Foundation, had written to the Delhi government for a direction to schools to close for the summers earlier than scheduled.

“Many years back, we had issued a similar advisory. But generally before the weather becomes this hot, the summer vacations in most schools already begin. This year has been an exception.”

“In winters too, when the weather gets too cold, we issue such advisories,” Ray said.