Srinagar, June 21 -- Owing to the intense heatwave, the education authorities in Kashmir have again revised the school timings and brought the summer vacation schedule ahead to July 1. Education minister Sakina Itoo said that due to the high temperatures, the schools will now close at least an hour earlier from Saturday. "Since the heatwave is very intense and children are suffering, we have decided to change the school timings. In municipal areas, the classwork will be from 8 am to 1 pm and in the areas outside the municipal limits, the timings will be from 8.30 am to 1.30 pm," Itoo told reporters. So far, the schools falling under Srinagar municipal limits were functioning from 8.30 am to 2.30 pm and those falling outside the municipal limits of Srinagar would function from 9 am to 3 pm. Kashmir is passing through a second heatwave since the second week of June with Srinagar now witnessing record temperatures in 20 years. On Thursday, the meteorological centre said that Srinagar was the hottest in the Himalayan valley at 35.2 degree Celsius, some 6.8 notches above normal, and third highest in history. The school education department had already changed the timings in May when the valley witnessed its first heatwave between May 18 to 27 with temperatures hovering 6-8 degrees above normal. Itoo said that they have decided that the summer break from July 1, bringing it ahead by at least two weeks in Kashmir. "We are proposing summer vacation from July 1 to 10 and after that we will see the weather condition to decide whether to extend the vacations or not," she said....