Schoolkids to have a shorter summer break

Bad news for schoolchildren. With schools having to close during the Commonwealth Games in October, summer vacations will become shorter this year.

Most schools have decided to truncate the summer break by a week to accommodate the extra holidays from October 1 to 17 later this year. A shorter break in this extreme heat may not please students but there’s some relief in store. Schools may give less homework considering the duration of the vacations.

Lata Vaidyanathan, principal, Modern School, Barakhamba Road, said: ‘‘We have shortened the summer break by a week. Though we usually close down for summer from May 7 every year, this year we will break for vacation from May 15.’’

Schools have to close for more than two weeks during the Games. Since they close for Dussehra for a week or 10 days in October, they were required to accommodate an extra week of holiday in their academic calendar. ‘‘We are adjusting that extra week of holidays, in addition to the Dussehra break in October, by cutting down on the summer vacations,’’ said Ameeta Mulla Wattal, principal, Springdales School, Pusa Road, where vacations will start from May 16 instead of May 8 like last year.

Gyan Bharati School, Saket, is largely following the schedule provided by the government. It will close on May 15 and reopen on June 28.

‘‘The government has made it compulsory for all schools to shut down during the Games. So we are mostly following the calendar provided by them. They wanted schools to reopen on June 26 but as it is a Saturday, we will resume classes on June 28,’’ said director R C Shekhar.

Schools have to complete at least 210 working days in one academic session. So many schools are even keeping an option of extending or truncating the winter vacation depending on the weather.

L V Sehgal, principal, Bal Bharati School, Ganga Ram Hospital Marg, said: ‘‘We have shortened the summer vacations by six days. The winter break may get slightly shorter if the need arises.’’