As cold wave grips city, parents demand school timings to be tweaked in Hyderabad

With the cold wave prevailing, temperatures are further falling. Ramachandrapuram in greater Hyderabad recorded a shocking 5.7° C at 7 am on January 1, according to the TSDPS. Meanwhile, IMD which has fewer weather stations recorded an overall 9° C for Hyderabad, with a departure of 6° C below normal.

The cold wave has raised concerns among the parents, especially those of pre-primary and primary classes. With the district administration, mum on any plans to change the school timings, several parents in the city are taking a back step in sending their wards to schools as the morning temperature is continuously taking a dip.

Students, especially those in pre-primary and primary schools, find it difficult to leave the house early in the morning, around 7 am. B Venkatanarsamma, District Education Officer, Hyderabad, said that there are no current plans to delay the school timings or even declare a holiday due to weather. "We have not received any instructions from the higher officials. Parents have also not approached us demanding any change in school timings," she told Express.

Parents, however, are worried. G Sujata, who has two children, aged five and seven, says children find it difficult to wake up early so early due to the cold.

"At 6 am when children get up it's still dark and its very cold too. The administration and government should delay school timings. So many children are down with a fever or suffering from cold and cough," she said. Child rights activist Achyuta Rao too agrees and has urged the district collectors to either declare three days holiday or delay starting time of classes " in the interest of the health of children."

School managements, however, are not in favour of any such revision on grounds that it is just a matter of three days and any variation in the timing will impact not just the transport mechanism in place at schools but also the timetable of parents.

"A delay of even an hour will throw the entire mechanism out of gear. Our school starts at 8:30 am and buses leave schools at 7 am to pick up children. At this time there is not much traffic but any delay will ensure that school and office timings will clash and this cause stress to children," said Anjali Razdan, principal of P Obul Reddy Public School, Jubilee Hills.

She added that as per request from parents, students are allowed to wear additional woolens to cover their legs or head to protect them from cold. On Monday Hyderabad had recorded temperatures as low as 6.6 degree Celsius at the automatic weather station at Telangana State Development Planning Society (TSDPS) in BHEL factory. This beats the lowest temperature of 8.9° Celsius last recorded on December 21, 2010, by the Meteorological Department in Hyderabad. The IMD in their weather warning has issued an orange alert for eight districts of the state which can expect a cold wave where temperatures could drop below 10° Celsius on Wednesday.