Power Outage Forces Students in Puri to Write Exams Under Candlelight

Puri: Several students in Odisha’s Puri district found themselves scribbling answers under the dim glow of candlelight as a prolonged power outage hit their schools on Wednesday.

The outage, which reportedly began on Tuesday night and lasted until around midday Wednesday, forced schools to scramble for alternative lighting arrangements.

With adverse weather conditions prevailing, darkness enveloped the classrooms, leaving students with no choice but to resort to candlelight as an alternative.

According to reports, students from class III to VIII appearing for their English exams (7:00 AM to 9:00 AM) and those from class VI to VIII taking their Sanskrit exams (9:00 AM to 11:00 AM) were forced to rely on candlelight to complete their tests.

The Puri District Education Officer (DEO), Dipak Padhy, attributed the power outage to heavy rain and strong winds associated with a recent Nor’wester weather system. However, efforts to obtain comments from officials at the Electricity department regarding the outage and restoration efforts were unsuccessful.