Schools in India closed due to extreme heat

Due to the extreme heat spreading across India, authorities have taken steps to close schools in nearly half of the country's 28 states, including the capital Delhi, from mid-May to the end of June. The external temperature has already exceeded 41 degrees Celsius (106 Fahrenheit), and such severe heat conditions have been observed since April this year.

Due to the continuous closure of schools before the start of the summer holidays, thousands of parents are facing severe difficulties in balancing their work and their children's activities.

In the face of this crisis, the responsibility for childcare has largely fallen on women, making working mothers the primary victims. A labor economist, who wished to remain anonymous, pointed out that due to frequent school closures, many women have been forced to stay home or switch to lower-paying jobs. The economist further emphasized that this has led to a decrease in overall family income, with some families facing the risk of falling into poverty.

The experience of a mother named Sakshi Katyal, who faced this situation, is a perfect example. Despite being in an air-conditioned home, she found it impossible to balance helping her five-year-old daughter with online classes and her own work, leading her to quit her job last February. According to her, it was an uncontrollable situation when the child demanded food and her attention at the same moment the office manager was asking her for various reports. Currently, their family relies on a single income and has to pay a monthly housing loan of 50,000 rupees (£400). In the past, she covered her own expenses, but today she has to ask her husband for money to buy groceries and pay her daughter's school fees.

Commenting on this, a senior official from Delhi's Higher Education Department justified the decision to close schools. He stated that the government is currently trying to save children's lives. He pointed out that many schools lack the necessary infrastructure to cope with such extreme temperatures, and even if online classes are not entirely effective, children's safety must be prioritized at this moment.

This social crisis caused by school closures has equally affected high-professional sectors. In India, with a population of 1.4 billion, there are fewer than 500 pediatric cardiologists. Noopur Goyal, a 44-year-old specialist working in Noida, treats children with life-threatening heart conditions. As a single mother, managing her extremely busy schedule when sudden school closure announcements are made has been a challenge for her. She commented on this, saying, "You rarely hear a man say he can't go to work because the domestic helper didn't show up. But nowadays, women constantly have to say that."