Early summer vacations in Pakistan's Punjab owing to intense heat wave: Minister

Intense heat wave in Pakistan's Punjab province forced the government to announce summer vacation for all public and private schools from May 28, a week ahead of the scheduled start, a minister said on Tuesday.

''The Maryam Nawaz-led government has decided to give the summer vacation about a week earlier because of the extreme heat wave prevalent in the province, like elsewhere in the country,'' Punjab Education Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat said.

He said the government also revised school timings from 7:30 am to 11:30 am till May 28 owing to the rising temperature.

The minister said, ''Efforts are being made to overcome the academic losses due to the closure of schools while ensuring the safety and well-being of students''.

Due to the persistent heat wave, the Punjab Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) has issued urgent directives to educational institutions and district administrations across Punjab.

According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), the intense heat wave will continue till May 24.

It said high pressure was likely to persist in the upper atmosphere during the ongoing week, with day temperatures expected to rise between four and seven degrees Celsius above average.

It said a shallow trough of the westerly wave was affecting the upper parts of the country.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)