Bhubaneswar, Apr 25 (IANS): The Odisha government on Monday suspended classes of all school students for five days effective from Tuesday, due to the prevailing heat wave.

"In view of the heat wave situation in the state, the government after careful consideration have been pleased to suspend the classes of all educational institutions under S&ME Department i.e. government, government aided and privately managed (Odia & English medium) schools from April 26, 2022 to April 30, 2022," Additional Secretary, School and Mass Education, Pratap Kumar Mishra said in a letter to all officials concerned.

All schools up to Class 12 comes under the administrative control of his department.

However, Class 10 and 12 examinations which have already been scheduled by the Board of Secondary Education (BSE) and Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE), will be held on time.

As per schedule, the annual matriculation exam will start on April 29 and continue till May 7 while the Class 12 exam conducted by CHSE will start on April 28 and continue till May 31.

Earlier, the School and Mass Education Department had announced summer vacation for 11 days from June 6 to June 16.