Delhi minister Atishi on Sunday said that primary schools in Delhi will remain closed till November 10 given the worsening air pollution situation in the national capital. Schools in Delhi have been given the option of shifting to online classes for students of grades 6-12.
"As pollution levels continue to remain high, primary schools in Delhi will stay closed till 10th November. For grades 6-12, schools are being given the option of shifting to online classes," Atishi said in a post on X.
Earlier, the Delhi government had announced that schools for students upto class 5 will remain closed till November 2. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal had taken to X to announce the temporary closure of schools due to worsening air quality index (AQI). An official order by the MCD asked teachers of classes Nursery to class 5 to conduct classes online since schools were instructed to 'discontinue' offline form for November 3 and 4.
The development comes as the air quality in Delhi and its surrounding areas continues to remain in the 'severe' category for the third straight day. The overall AQI of Delhi stood at 460 as of 7 am on Sunday. The AQI stood at 490 in Dwarka Sector 9, 482 in IGI Airport T3, 479 in Bawana, 478 in Wazirpur, 465 in Jahangirpuri, 464 in Aya Nagar, 430 in Lodhi Road, and at 478 in Siri Fort.
Noida and Gurugram also reported a 'severe' air quality on Sunday. An AQI between 0-50 is considered 'good', 51-100 is 'satisfactory', 101-200 is 'moderate', 201-300 is 'poor', 301-400 'very poor', and 401-500 'severe'. Anything above 500 comes under the hazardous category.
Given the hazardous air quality in the national capital, the Centre has implemented Stage III of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), under which restrictions have been imposed to curb pollution. The GRAP includes a ban on non-essential construction activities, mining and stone-crushing, and restrictions on plying of BS-III petrol and BS-IV diesel-four wheelers in Delhi, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar, Gurugram and Faridabad.
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