Jharkhand government on Thursday announced revised school timings because of intense heat sweeping across the state, an official said.

Students from kindergarten to Class 8 will attend school from 7 am to 11:30 am, while senior students will continue classes until noon, the official added.

The new timings will come into effect from April 26 till further notice.

“Considering the increasing impact of heat in the state, classes from KG to class 8 in all categories of government, non-government aided, unaided (including minority) schools, and all private schools will operate from 7 am to 11.30 am and classes from standard 9 to 12 will operate from 7 am to noon until further notice,” according to the order issued by the school education and literacy department.

Jharkhand is reeling under extreme hot weather conditions with Daltonganj sizzling at 43 degrees Celsius.

A ‘yellow’ alert of hot and humid weather conditions was issued on Thursday for 12 districts — Simdega, Saraikela-Kharswan, East Singhbhum, West Singhbhum, Bokaro, Dhanbad, Jamtara, Deoghar, Dumka, Pakur, Godda and Sahibganj districts — till April 26, a weather official said.

Ranchi Meteorological Centre’s deputy director Abhishek Anand said the maximum temperature is hovering around 40 degrees Celsius across the state.

On Wednesday, Daltonganj registered the state’s highest maximum temperature at 43 degrees Celsius, 2.2 notches above normal. It was followed by Jamshedpur and Chaibasa, recording 42.6 and 42.4 degrees Celsius, respectively.

State capital Ranchi recorded 38.8 degrees Celsius.

Anand said no major change in the maximum temperature is expected for at least three days.

Thereafter, it may decline by 3 to 5 degrees Celsius, with the likelihood of rain and hailstorm from April 27, he added.