Patna: The biting cold in Bihar, which has forced the government to extend the closure of schools, has left parents and students worried. Now schools will reopen on January 25, if the state gets some respite from the cold, an official said today.

The schools were closed until January 3 for Christmas holidays and were scheduled to reopen from January 4. But the cold wave has forced the Bihar government to extend the closure of schools time and again till date.

"All public and private schools are yet to reopen after Christmas holidays as the intense cold forced the government to extend the closure of schools four times in the past three weeks. It has hit school education," Chanchal Singh, a mother of a student from St. Michael school here, said.

"After the government extended the closure of schools due to the cold, children are also fed up and anxious about completing their syllabus," Anjum Ara, mother of three school going children, said.

Aneesh Kumar, a class five student, said that the cold badly affected his plan to study at home during the winter vacation. "We have lost school classes as well as our concentration to study at home following the intense cold," he said.

The cold, which has claimed nearly 100 lives in Bihar in the past three weeks, has thrown life out of gear.

Dense fog disrupted air and rail services with several flights and long-distance trains running late.

According to the meteorological department, Gaya district recorded a low of 5.1 degrees Celsius while Patna registered a low of 5 degrees Celsius today morning. IANS