Delhi: Students resume classes as schools reopen after enforced pollution break

Schools in the national capital reopened on Monday after an enforced break in schools from November 9 to 18 in view of the severe air pollution in the national capital.

Students, accompanied by their parents, arrived early this morning to attend their classes at a school in the Geeta Colony area today.

This comes after the Delhi government announced that schools in Delhi will reopen for physical classes on Monday, November 20, 2023.

The reopening is due to a significant decline in pollution levels and an improved Air Quality Index (AQI). The Directorate of Education had earlier this month declared a winter break from November 9-18 due to the poor air quality.

"In view of air pollution, the winter break for all schools, which is usually in December, has been rescheduled, now to be from November 9-18," the Delhi Education Department had said.

All schools in Delhi were directed to suspend physical classes, except for classes 10 and 12, until November 10 in view of rising pollution levels, Environment Minister Gopal Rai had announced earlier.

The decision to resume physical classes was made in view of the improving AQI and the forecast by the IMD that there is no indication of any sharp degradation in Delhi's AQI in the near future.

The reopening will include all classes from pre-school to grade 12 in all government-aided and privately recognised schools in Delhi.

To prevent any adverse impact on the students' studies due to the closure of schools, these holidays were adjusted to coincide with the winter break.

Meanwhile, the air quality in the national capital continued to remain 'very poor' at 8:30 on Monday morning. The overall air quality index in the city was recorded at 310.

A day after restrictions under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) - 4 were lifted in Delhi following improvement in the air quality, Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Sunday urged people to be careful and continue to follow the rules as stages 1, 2, and 3 of GRAP are still in place to tackle air pollution in the national capital.

Gopal Rai mentioned on Sunday that though there has been a constant improvement in Delhi's air quality, people still need to be aware in order to maintain this improvement.

With an improvement in the air quality in Delhi, the CAQM (Commission for Air Quality Management) last week revoked the restrictions that were imposed under GRAP 4, permitting trucks and buses except for BS-3 and BS-4 petrol and diesel vehicles to enter the city and lifting the ban on ongoing construction activities.