Following the Indian Meteorological Department’s (IMD) warning about the scorching heat expected in the state in the coming days, the government has announced that all the schools will be closed from April 21.    

On Tuesday, School Education Minister KA Sengottaiyan said that all schools have been instructed to be shut from April 21. He said that though all classes were scheduled to end only next week, all schools have been asked to shut from Friday, reported The New Indian Express.

Moreover, an advisory will be issued to all private schools, instructing them not to conduct special classes for Class X and XII students. The government will take necessary action if such classes are held, he added.

On Monday, the IMD had issued a heat wave alert for Chennai and 19 other districts in North Tamil Nadu. The mercury has been shooting up not only during the day, but also at night in Chennai. On Monday, Chennai recorded one of its hottest nights, with the temperature staying at close to 30 degrees Celsius till early Tuesday morning. 

The Regional Meteorological Centre in Nungambakkam recorded a temperature of 33 degrees Celsius at 10pm on Monday, and of 29.7 degrees Celsius at 4.30am on Tuesday morning.

Tamil Nadu Weatherman Pradeep John, a weather blogger, posted on Facebook that high humidity levels of 80% had caused the increase in night-time temperatures.

To add to the rising temperature, Chennai Metro Water reduced its water supply from 830 million litres per day to 550 million litres per day to conserve water. Chennai is facing serious water scarcity as four of the city's reservoirs have less than one tmc ft of available water.