A comedy or errors and orders, which contradicted one another, have resulted in hundreds of BMC schools across Mumbai facing a strange situation — where they have to call a halt on term exams immediately and resume exams after an unscheduled 15-day Diwali break.u00a0Students and teachers of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) schools have been compelled to put their holiday plans on hold. The reason? Lack of communication between BMC’s education officers, the state government and school authorities regarding actual holiday dates.

Earlier this year, state minister for school education Rajendra Darda had declared November 1 to November 18 as final Diwali vacation dates for primary and secondary sections. But as the BMC education officer didn’t convey the message to school authorities, they declared holidays from October 21 to November 10 for secondary section and October 24 to November 8 for primary section students. The schools were merely following an earlier circular sent by the BMC’s education department, dated December 28, 2012. BMC education officials, on their part, claim they did not receive any circular of changed dates from the minister’s office.