Private schools will change their timings from Monday following a dip in mercury and in keeping with the directive of East Singhbhum deputy commissioner (DC) Ravi Shankar Shukla.

The new timing — from 9am to 3pm instead of the existing 7.30am to 1.30pm — will be applicable to students of up to Class VIII.

In his initial directive, the DC had asked schools to tweak their timings from December 12, but later changed it to December 16 on the request of many principals.

While some schools were conducting tests and found it impossible to reschedule them at such a short notice, others felt it was not yet that cold.

Although the minimum temperature in the city has not dipped below 15°C , district superintendent of education Vineet Kumar said the directive might have followed requests by some parents.

“Government schools operate within the same time in winters. Also, we learnt that many parents requested the DC for the time change,” he said.

On Wednesday, the maximum temperature in Jamshedpur stood at 28°C while the minimum was 15.4°C.

Principal of Kerala Samajam Model School, Nandini Shukla, said: “We will tweak the time depending on the dip in the temperature. If it is not too cold, we won’t do it unnecessarily. Also, more than half a dozen schools conduct classes for underprivileged kids that start from 2pm.”