Srinagar, Nov 25 : Alerted by the early setting in of winter with the night temperature dropping several notches below the freezing point, the Jammu and Kashmir government on Tuesday ordered winter vacation for schools in the Valley.

An order issued by Ram Niwas Sharma, IAS, Secretary to the School Education Department, said that all pre-primary (Balvatika) classes in the Valley will observe winter vacation from November 26 to February 28, 2026.

"All classes from 1st to 8th standard will observe winter vacation from December 1 to February 28, 2026. Winter vacation for classes 9 to 12 will start on December 11 and end on February 22, 2026," the order said.

Kashmir Valley has been in the throes of a cold wave for the past week. The minimum temperature dropped to minus 3.1 degrees Celsius in Srinagar on Tuesday.

Other places in the Valley, Gulmarg, Pahalgam, Kokernag, Qazigund, among others, recorded below freezing point night temperatures.

Chilly winds blowing into the Valley from snowclad mountains make movement of pedestrians and motorists, especially schoolgoing children, very difficult in the morning.

No government school in the Valley has adequate heating arrangements in the classrooms, which adds to the hardships faced by children.

Slippery streets, lanes and bylanes make passage in densely populated areas even more difficult.

The harshest 40 days of winter cold, 'Chillai Kalan', begin on December 21 and end January 30 each year.

During this period, all the water bodies in the Valley, including rivers, streams and lakes, freeze either partially or completely as the minimum temperature drops to minus 5 and minus 7 degrees, with the gap between day and night temperatures also narrowing.

Srinagar recorded the coldest night of the season last week, with the minimum temperature dropping to minus 2.8 degrees Celsius.

/IANS