Schools reopen in Delhi after short break, parents concerned

The primary schools in the national capital reopened on Wednesday after remaining closed since November 5 following a Delhi government order. The air quality, however, continued to remain in the ‘very poor’ category on with an overall Air Quality Index (AQI) at 329, as per the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR). Parents feel that dropping off their children at the schools amid this pollution is “another challenge” for them and the schools should have remained shut.

“It is a huge problem and is challenging for us to drop them off amid this pollution. We can’t even send them via bus and rather prefer dropping them off in our own vehicles. I think schools should have remained shut until the air quality improves,” said another parent Braj.
While some parents believe that school reopening is a good decision, others are of the opinion that online education was easy and safe for minors. “Senior students have enough sense to manage but it turns difficult when we talk about the minors. I believe the primary section should be given 15 days more leaves,” said Rani.
National Capital Region (NCR) also continued to witness bad air on Wednesday as Noida also registered very poor air quality with an AQI of 380 while Gurugram’s AQI stood at 336 and continued to remain in the ‘very poor’ category. AQI recorded at all major monitoring stations in the national capital also stood in the ‘very poor’ category.
Pusa recorded an AQI of 342 while Dhirpur recorded an AQI of 320. Lodhi Road recorded 329, Delhi Airport (T3) recorded an AQI of 326, and Mathura road recorded an AQI of 332. The AQI at Delhi University stood at 360 and at IIT Delhi stood at 306 in ‘very poor category.’
The directions were issued in view of the Central government’s panel Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) to revoke the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) stage 4 after the national capital’s air quality turned ‘severe’ last week.
However, the curbs on BS III petrol vehicles and BS IV diesel vehicles will still continue in Delhi. Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said the ban was imposed under Stage III of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP); and that it won’t be lifted yet.