Nagpur: With temperatures hovering around 43°C, classrooms in Nagpur have turned into virtual heat traps. Yet, children continue to attend regular classes through the harshest hours of the day — a stark failure of the Maharashtra government’s heatwave response. The contradiction is glaring. The public health department has advised people to stay indoors after noon, but the education department has issued no directive to close schools or even reduce timings. The message to parents is unmistakable: protect yourself, but send your children out into the heat.In the absence of a statewide policy, district administrations across Vidarbha are left to improvise, exposing students to inconsistent, last-minute decisions. Parents and teachers warn that this is not mere administrative delay — it is a risk to children’s safety.Wamanrao Chatap, head of Vidarbha Rajya Andolan Samiti, squarely blamed policymakers from the region. “The chief minister is from Nagpur. If leaders here cannot recognise the severity of Vidarbha’s summers, who will? Schools should have been shut from April 1. This is sheer apathy. The least they can do is keep children in mind while planning the academic session,” he said.Public anger is mounting. After TOI highlighted the issue, citizens criticised what they described as a complete disconnect between policymakers and ground realities. One reader blamed “bureaucrats unfamiliar with Vidarbha’s summers, or those who forget them after transfers to Pune or Mumbai.”A school principal said, “Make bureaucrats sit in classrooms after noon. Let them endure what children are forced to. Decisions will change overnight.”Another citizen called for direct accountability from the political class. “Hold the assembly session here in peak summer. Let them work in these conditions before framing policies,” the comment read.Mukesh Masurkar, another reader, pointed to a deeper, recurring fault line. “Uniform rules are imposed on regions with vastly different climates. Vidarbha pays the price every year. Had Vidarbha been a separate state, such a situation would not have arisen. Our geography demands our own decisions,” he said, noting that the academic session in the region traditionally ended in March.Education activist and national coordinator of Rashtriya Shikshak Palak Sangathan, Yogesh Pathare, termed the approach fundamentally flawed. “A uniform academic calendar for Maharashtra is irrational. Climate patterns vary sharply. Policy must adapt — right now, it doesn’t,” he said.With no intervention from the state, each day without a clear directive is not just a delay — it is a calculated risk.
