MANGALURU: Students should not get too excited over rain holidays. The department of public instruction is mulling over cutting short Dasara holidays as it has declared holidays for schools due to incessant rain in the region. Till Tuesday, the Dakshina Kannada district administration had declared eight days of holidays due to the rains.This year, Dasara holidays are scheduled from October 7 to October 21. While eight holidays are declared by the district administration for all taluks, some of the taluks like Belthangady , Puttur and Sullia have also independently given holidays depending upon rains. This week itself, schools have been shut from August 11 till August 15 (Independence Day). "Holidays may be further declared depending upon rains. However, as classes are not taken due to holidays being declared due to heavy rain, the department is mulling to cut short 15 days of Dasara holidays," said DDPI Y Shivaramaiah, while speaking to TOI.Is there a provision to make the Dasara holidays shorter? As per the holiday notifications issued by the department of public instruction, clause number four points out that if the normal working day gets affected due to bandh or for other reasons, the DDPI has the right to cancel holidays in order to balance normal working days.Apart from it, every school is given freedom to declare four days as local holidays. These are given whenever there are local events in a village where the school is situated.Shivaramaiah added that as per guidelines, every school operated 240 days in an academic year, has to compulsorily work for 220 days per annum. "So we are likely to cut down holidays. However, there will be extended classes on Saturday, if the need arises," he pointed out.Meanwhile, the department of pre-university education is also mulling the same. A source from the department said they will compensate holidays with special classes or make the Dasara vacation shorter. "We are yet to take a decision on the same," the source added.

Stay updated with all the Latest Mangalore headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.