By: Mohd Amin Mir
When winter descends on Kashmir, Himachal, Ladakh, or even parts of Uttarakhand and the Northeast, the school bell falls silent. Snow-laden rooftops, bone-chilling winds, broken window panes, and unheated classrooms force an annual exodus from education. For decades, children in these regions have been conditioned to equate December through February not with learning, but with an enforced break—winter vacations that are longer than academic terms.
This seasonal interruption is not only a disservice to the intellectual development of children but also a systemic failure to ensure the constitutional right to education year-round. While developed nations in Europe—many of them colder than Kashmir—conduct regular schooling throughout the harshest of winters, Indian Himalayan regions shut doors for three months. This glaring gap demands one fundamental reform: the creation of All-Weather Schools.
This article argues why all-weather schools are the next frontier in India’s educational equity and infrastructure policy. It outlines the essential components of such institutions and presents a cost-effective roadmap to implement them across climate-vulnerable regions.
What Are All-Weather Schools?
“All-weather schools” are educational institutions designed to function uninterrupted throughout the year, regardless of climatic conditions. They are thermally insulated, well-lit, energy-efficient, and digitally connected buildings equipped with heating or cooling systems, weather-proofed architecture, and a pedagogical calendar that does not bend before nature’s tantrums.
While the term may sound luxurious in the Indian context, it is an essential infrastructure for educational parity. In Finland, Norway, Switzerland, Canada, or northern Japan—countries where snow covers the land for 4–5 months—children go to school daily. Why can’t India’s mountain states aspire to the same?
The Indian Reality: Winter Shuts Down Learning
In states and Union Territories like Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, and parts of Arunachal Pradesh, schools remain closed for 60 to 90 days in winter. Temperatures often plunge below minus 5°C, buildings lack insulation, and children are forced to stay home. Online learning is patchy due to poor connectivity, and printed homework packets do not compensate for lost teacher interaction.
This educational disruption has several long-term impacts:
Learning gaps widen, particularly in early childhood education.
Dropout rates increase among girls and marginalised groups.
Working parents struggle to manage children at home for extended periods.
Academic calendars get squeezed, forcing rushed teaching.
Learning from Europe: How Cold Countries Keep Schools Open
A look at how nations manage education in freezing climates offers a masterclass in planning. In countries like Finland or Switzerland, where daily winter temperatures can fall to -15°C, school remains uninterrupted. Here’s how:
- Central Heating & Thermal Insulation
Schools have central heating systems—geothermal, electric, or radiator-based—that maintain a stable indoor temperature.
- Double-Glazed Windows & Insulated Walls
All school buildings are required by law to have thermally insulated architecture, reducing heat loss and energy consumption.
- Weather-Ready Clothing Policies
Children are provided or required to wear snow boots, thermal coats, gloves, and caps. Weather is not a reason to stay home.
- All-Purpose Indoor Spaces
Sports, assembly, and extracurriculars are held in heated indoor auditoriums or gyms when outdoor conditions are hostile.
- Prepared Transport Infrastructure
Snow-clearing, heated buses, and safe routes ensure children can commute to school safely.
- Calendar and Flexibility
Academic calendars are structured with buffer days and allow flexible attendance in rare weather extremes—but not blanket closures.
These solutions are not utopian—they are institutionalized practices. What we lack in India is not the possibility, but the policy intent and infrastructural investment.
What Needs to Change: Basic Requirements for All-Weather Schools in India
To make Indian schools truly all-weather—especially in the north and northeastern hilly regions—we need a multi-dimensional approach. The following interventions can form the foundation of a national strategy.
- Thermal Infrastructure: Insulated Buildings and Heating Systems
- a) Wall and Roof Insulation
Most government schools in Kashmir or Himachal are built with poor-quality materials—single-layered brick walls, tin roofs, and open window gaps. These buildings leak heat and cannot retain warmth even during the day.
Solution: Mandate thermal insulation standards for all schools above 1500 meters altitude. Provide grants for retrofitting existing structures with PUF panels, glass wool insulation, or compressed fly ash blocks.
- b) Double-Glazed Windows
Most rural schools use single-glass window panes that crack easily and trap condensation. Double-glazed PVC windows with sealed edges offer better thermal performance and safety.
- c) Heating Equipment
Install electric panel heaters, wood pellet stoves, or solar-powered radiant heaters in classrooms. Decentralised heating is more viable than expensive central systems in remote villages.
- Winter-Ready School Uniforms
Children often skip school not because buildings are cold but because they lack proper winter clothing. The current uniform system—cotton shirts, sweaters, and light trousers—is ill-suited for minus-degree temperatures.
Solution: Introduce subsidised winter uniform kits for government schools, including thermal inners, gloves, wool caps, waterproof boots, and fleece jackets. Local NGOs and Panchayats can assist in procurement and distribution.
- Modified Academic Calendar with Micro-Vacations
A complete shutdown of 2–3 months in winter is an outdated British-era policy. Modern educational calendars in cold countries adopt micro-breaks and staggered schedules.
Solution: Redesign the school calendar to spread shorter vacations across the year (10–15 days each), with flexible teaching modules, allowing for hybrid learning during peak snow days rather than total closure.
- Digital Infrastructure as Backup, Not Primary Mode
Relying solely on online classes during winter is unrealistic in areas with low internet penetration. However, pre-recorded lectures, TV broadcast lessons, and offline tablets can complement physical classes.
Solution: Supply teachers with solar-powered teaching kits and preloaded content during emergency closures. Develop region-specific winter e-modules in local languages.
- Transport & Access Pathways
Even the best-equipped schools are useless if children cannot reach them. Snow-locked roads, iced footpaths, and broken footbridges prevent access.
Solution: Involve Public Works Departments (PWDs) and Rural Development agencies to ensure school routes are cleared regularly. In remote areas, consider setting up winter hostels for children from inaccessible hamlets.
- Teacher Training and Incentives
Teachers themselves often seek long winter holidays due to poor working conditions. All-weather schooling needs motivated, well-trained educators who can teach in diverse climates.
Solution:
Introduce winter teaching allowances
Conduct training modules on winter pedagogy
Offer rotational deputation incentives for teachers in snow-prone zones
- Community Involvement & Awareness
Parents and communities often resist winter schooling due to safety and health concerns. Behavioral change must accompany infrastructure.
Solution: Run awareness campaigns through radio, panchayats, and religious leaders, assuring parents of warm facilities and student welfare. Community-school partnerships can ensure smooth daily functioning.
The Economics of Warmth: Is This Affordable?
Critics may argue that all-weather schools are too expensive. But consider this: the cost of one government bungalow can fund complete insulation and heating for ten schools. The real question is budgetary prioritization, not affordability.
Moreover, carbon-efficient designs—like solar heating, passive architecture, and insulated eco-bricks—are long-term savings, not costs. With the Centre already funding Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, a new “Weather-Proof School Fund” for cold and hot climate regions is both feasible and necessary.
Case Study: Gurez Valley’s Winter Schooling Pilot
In 2023, the Bandipora District Administration initiated a pilot in Gurez, one of Kashmir’s coldest and most remote valleys. Using community volunteers, they kept three schools open during a 45-day winter window by providing:
Room heaters
Thermal uniforms
Emergency medicines
Snow clearance on paths
The result? 100+ students attended classes regularly, and learning outcomes remained stable. This low-cost, high-impact model can be replicated in hundreds of villages.
Policy Recommendations: A National Mission for All-Weather Schools
India needs a dedicated national mission to make year-round schooling a reality across climate-stressed zones. Recommendations include:
- National All-Weather School Policy for Hill States
A central guideline under NEP 2020 for climate-resilient schooling infrastructure.
- Mandatory Building Codes for School Construction in Cold Zones
- Special Winter Uniform and Nutrition Grants for Children
- State-Level Academic Calendar Reforms and Flexibility
- Public-Private Partnerships for Solar Heating Solutions
- Block-level Micro-Planning and Monitoring Units
A Nation That Teaches, Come Rain or Snow
To build the knowledge economy India dreams of, we must begin by making learning resilient to nature’s seasons. A child in Ganderbal or Lahaul deserves the same uninterrupted schooling as a child in Gurgaon or Chennai. Geography should not dictate literacy. Climate should not cancel curiosity.
The time has come to shift from vacationing through winters to learning through them. All-weather schools are not an extravagance; they are an educational necessity and a moral imperative.
The writer is a columnist and development writer focusing on education, rural governance, and institutional reform in Jammu & Kashmir and the Himalayan belt.
