Rising mercury forces schools to revise timings in Lucknow

, May 3: The Lucknow district administration ordered all city

upto class 12th to close by 12 noon as the mercury level was showing a rising trend, an official said on Saturday.

The order for the early closure of schools was signed by the Lucknow District Magistrate Raj Shekhar late on Friday, so it could not be communicated to all schools in time, the official told IANS.

The new timings will be adhered to from Monday, he said.

There have been lots of complaints and requests from parents and students to close the schools owing to the continued heat wave. But the schools are scheduled to close for summer vacations May 16, said officials adding it was decided not to completely shutdown schools but revise their timings.

Temperature has been rising across the state steadily in the past few days. While the week started with day temperatures hovering around 40 degrees Celsius, by mid-week, the mercury has inched closer to 44 degrees Celsius.

IANS