PHNOM PENH, April 30 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia ordered all public schools to reduce two hours off their regular school days due to soaring temperatures in the ongoing dry season, according to a directive released on Tuesday.
The normal morning school session from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. will now conclude an hour earlier, while the afternoon session, usually lasting from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., will commence an hour later, the directive said.
"During the dry season in 2024, the weather is extremely hot and temperatures can be higher than 40 degrees Celsius between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.," Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron said in the directive.
He said the measure is to prevent heat-related illnesses.
Chan Yutha, a spokesman and secretary of state for the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology, said last week that Cambodia had recorded the highest-ever temperature in this hot season in about 170 years.
According to the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology's weather forecast, the temperature in some provinces in the northern, northeastern, northwestern, central and southern parts of the country reached 43 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, and this "alarming" level will last till Wednesday and Thursday.
Yutha said temperatures will start to drop in early May, as rainfall is predicted. ■