Heatwave policy changes cut Ludhiana’s double-shift govt schools to 3-hour days.

Ludhiana: Extreme weather policy changes have forced a drastic halving of instructional hours across city’s double-shift govt schools, sparking backlash from parents and students who warn the academic year is being derailed at the starting gate.

To combat soaring regional temperatures, the state govt mandated an earlier, uniform school day running from 7.30am to 1.30pm. However, for the roughly 15 local institutes forced to split their campuses into consecutive morning and afternoon cohorts, the six-hour window has squeezed individual school operations down to just three hours for each shift.

Under the emergency schedule, morning-shift students attend classes from 7 to 10 in the morning, followed by an afternoon block from 10.30am to 1.30pm. The sudden contraction from the standard five- to six-hour school day has fundamentally compromised classroom instruction.

The compressed timeline disproportionately harms high school students preparing for critical national board examinations, turning a structured academic environment into a race against the clock.

Parents and Students Sound the Alarm

Prominent local campuses caught in the structural crunch include Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) Govt Smart School, PM Shri Govt Senior Secondary School on Cemetery Road, Govt Multipurpose Senior Secondary School, and Govt Primary Smart School, Kundanpuri.

“Three hours just feels like a rush,” said a Class-XII student speaking on the condition of anonymity. “The academic year has just started, but we couldn’t even run through our core timetable on day one because teachers were overwhelmed with administrative work or subjects lacked scheduled blocks entirely.”

A Class-XI student echoed the sentiment, noting that the overall academic atmosphere collapsed the moment the shifts were shortened.

The structural flaw is a recurring issue for low-income public schools that rely on dual enrollment to manage overcrowded infrastructure. Concerned parents pointed out that senior students in crucial phases of their secondary education cannot cover vast national curricula in 180 minutes a day.

“Every single time the state alters school timings for weather emergencies, the educational environment in double-shift schools falls apart,” a parent said. “The education department needs a distinct, targeted strategy for these split-campus schools rather than treating them with a blanket policy.”

Administrative Standoff

The local education bureaucracy has defused immediate accountability, pointing directly to state-level mandates .Deputy district education officer (DEO) Amandeep Singh defended the compliance of local campuses while promising a superficial review of the fallout.

“The schools are following the schedule precisely as per the guidelines issued by the higher authorities,” he said. “If specific concerns are being raised by the students and parents, I will look into the matter with the respective school principals.”