Saudi Arabia: Start of school day delayed over cold snap
Severe cold air mass to affect several areas in the kingdom
Cairo: A cold wave gripping some areas in Saudi Arabia has prompted education authorities to delay the start of the school day.
Education authorities in the governorate of Qurayyat in northern Saudi Arabia has decided to put off the start of the classes to 9am, an arrangement that will be in effect until Tuesday.
Similarly, education authorities in Tabuk in north-western Saudi Arabia said the school day in the city and its suburb has changed to begin at 9am as of Sunday throughout the week.
Meanwhile, the morning parade in the Ha'il region in north-western Saudi Arabia is suspended with the first class now scheduled to begin at 7.45am until further notice due to the cold wave.
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For the same reason, education authorities in the kingdom's Northern Borders region have decided to delay the commencement of the school day to 9am on Sunday and Monday only.
In the northern region of Al Jawf, the morning parade is now scheduled for 8.15am and the first class 15 minutes later.
The measures were taken to ensure students' safety as the Saudi National Centre for Meteorology has forecast that a severe cold air mass will affect several areas in the kingdom, sending the temperatures to dip to 3 degrees centigrade below zero in some parts.
In mid-November, more than 6 million students in different education stages returned to their schools across the kingdom after a break marking the end of the first semester of the current academic year.
The kingdom's northern regions are expected to experience their harshest cold wave so far this season.