Weather woes: Valley varsities suspend classes for a week

Srinagar: The University of Kashmir and the Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST), who had earlied announced cancellation of winter vacation this year, have now called off classes for a week due to bad weather.After losing five months of classes during the summer unrest last year, the universities across Kashmir decided to call off the winter break this year. However, after fresh snowfall since the last two days the classes have been called off for a week and the exams have also been postponed.The Kashmir varsity exams scheduled to be held on January 18 and 19 have been postponed due to fresh snowfall. The classes in all departments of the university have also been suspended till January 29, a varsity officialsaid.Earlier, the university postponed all examinations that were scheduled to be held on January 16 and 17.IUST Vice Chancellor Mushtaq Ahmad Sidiqui said the decision to resume classes would be taken only after the weather improves.“For now, we have called off classes till January 22. We will take the final call on Friday after the weather forecast becomes certain. If the weather continues to be like this then we might suspend classes till January 29,” the official said, adding that the exams were scheduled to take place in the university from the second week of March.Meanwhile, the bad weather has lead to slippery roads hampering the normal movement of traffic. — TNS