Delhi-NCR Schools Shift to Online Classes as Toxic Air Quality Soars | Noida News
Noida: The Noida administration ordered online classes for all students upto Nov 23 as air quality in the city touched the ‘severe’ category for the first time this season on Monday. In neighbouring Ghaziabad, the district magistrate ordered online sessions for all classes on Tuesday and a holiday on Wednesday, when bypolls are scheduled in the city.
Earlier in the day, the education department issued an advisory, asking schools to ensure no student whose health was affected by issues related to pollution was forced to attend classes or was marked absent.
Principals of several schools said some students had taken ill after coming for classes on Monday, when the average AQI in Noida logged 423. “On Monday, we had three children coughing and vomiting. We are switching to online classes from tomorrow. We can’t wait for other children to fall sick,” said Aditi Basu, principal of Grads International School in Greater Noida.
In some schools, teachers had to send a few students home after they started coughing and complained of eye irritation.
Also See: Noida AQI
“Classrooms were smoggy through the day, causing students to cough and feel choked. We used air purifiers in classrooms, but after some time, that wasn’t helping either. At least five children complained of breathing issues and had to be sent home,” said principal Asha Prabhakar of Bal Bharti School.
“By Monday evening, we were flooded with emails from parents expressing concern regarding the health of their children because of severe pollution levels. We had anyway announced online classes for all students except those appearing for boards,” said Sangeeta Arora of Kothari School.
The Ghaziabad administration issued a similar order for all schools and classes. “As voting for the Ghaziabad assembly seat will take place on 20th of Nov, and on account of this all schools across the district will be closed on Wednesday. Further decisions will be taken as per the state order,” said Indra Vikram Singh, the Ghaziabad DM.
Similarly, in Delhi, schools have moved to online classes because of pollution-related restrictions
