Delhi Air Pollution: Schools told to go online for all classes barring X and XII

NEW DELHI: The rising air quality index has prompted the government to ask the schools to shift to the online mode for all classes other than 10th and 12th till November 10. The schools are also given the option of going online for classes X and XII.

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According to an order issued by the Directorate of Education on Monday, "In view of the implementation of Stage IV of Graded Response Action Plan... it is ordered that all classes - except the board classes - in all schools of Delhi shall be held online up to November 10." Most schools have planned a Diwali break till November 14 after November 10. Earlier, Delhi government had ordered primary classes to go online till November 10 while schools were given the option of continuing with the physical mode for classes VI to XII.

Most private schools said they would go fully online as it would be difficult to ply buses for just classes X and XII. However, the majority of the government schools will hold physical classes out of the concern that every student may not have electronic devices and proper network access.

Minakshi Kushwaha, principal of Birla Vidya Niketan, said, "We will conduct online classes for the whole school. It won't be easy to ply 35 buses for these two classes. Even teachers will conduct classes from home. Calling them defeats the purpose of curbing pollution. But such closures are unfortunate, when will children study?"

The Indian School has asked all students to wear uniform and switch on their cameras while attending online classes. "The entire school will work online. Surprisingly, online attendance has been good this time," said principal Tania Joshi. "But parents of students of nursery classes are having problems as they are working and don't have spare devices," she added.

Arpit Bhargava, one of the parents who is a lawyer, told TOI, said his wife was also working and they would manage one by one. "The problem is not online classes, this is only a consequence. The problem is not addressing the yearly concern of stubble burning. Delhi government has miserably failed to act in public interest."

Considering this closure to be an annual pattern, ITL Public School Dwarka has decided to hold its annual day and other activities in October from the next session. "We should now officially start designating the month of November as pollution vacation. We had to postpone our annual day to December 2. After Diwali, too, the schools will be closed," said principal Sudha Acharya.

At government institutes, it is compulsory for the teachers to take classes from the school. AK Jha, principal of Government Co-ed Sarvodaya Vidyalaya, Sector 8 Rohini, said, "Not all children have individual devices, so we have called classes X and XII students to school. They are being prepared for board practicals too."

Mount Abu Public School, a private institute, has also decided to hold physical classes for classes X and XII, said principal Jyoti Arora.