'Flood vacation' for schools in Bihar's flood-prone districts

Students of hundreds of government schools in Bihar's 20 flood-prone districts will get a "flood vacation" during the rainy season and not a summer vacation this year, an official said Saturday.

"There will be no summer vacation in government schools in the flood-prone 119 blocks in 20 districts," R.S. Singh, an official of education department said.

Arguing that school-going children are deprived of their education during floods, Singh said: "We have decided not to have a summer vacation in government schools, and instead have a flood-vacation to compensate."

Among the flood-prone districts are Purnea, Araria, Kishanganj, Muzaffarpur, Katihar, Supaul, Saharsa, Gopalganj, Begusarai, Saran, Vaisali, Khagaria, Samastipur, Lakhisarai and Madhepura.

In Bihar, government schools will be closed for summer vacation from May 26 to June 7.

"The summer vacation will be for schools in 18 districts, which are not flood-prone or and affected by drought," he said.