Delhi schools go online for all except classes 10 and 12 as pollution worsens

Students of all schools up to Class 9 will move to online mode from Monday in view of the increasing pollution levels in the capital city until further notice, the Delhi government announced on Sunday.
However, physical classes for students of Grade 10 and 12 will continue as per normal timings.
“With the imposition of GRAP-4 from tmrw, physical classes shall be discontinued for all students, apart from Class 10 and 12. All schools will hold online classes, until further orders,” Chief Minister Atishi said in a post on X.
The announcement comes soon after the Centre’s air quality panel announced stricter pollution control measures for the Delhi-NCR under Stage 4 of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), effective from 8 am on Monday.
Under the GRAP-IV rules, there will be a complete ban on entry of trucks and a halt on construction at all public projects.
The curbs were imposed as Delhi’s Air Quality Index (AQI) breached the ‘severe plus’ mark at 457 at 7 pm today due to unfavourable weather conditions.
The directive prohibits the entry of trucks into Delhi, except those carrying essential goods or operating on clean fuels such as LNG, CNG, BS-VI diesel, or electric power. Non-essential light commercial vehicles from outside Delhi are also barred, with exceptions granted only to EVs, CNG, and BS-VI diesel vehicles.
The ban has also been imposed on all Delhi-registered medium and heavy diesel goods vehicles having BS-IV or older standards, except those engaged in essential services.
In addition, construction activities, including public infrastructure projects like highways, roads, flyovers, power lines, and pipelines, have been halted.
Delhi was listed as the country’s second most polluted city on Sunday. The city’s 24-hour Air Quality Index (AQI), recorded at 4 pm daily, stood at 441, in the ‘severe’ category. On Saturday, the AQI was 417.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data, four cities in the country recorded AQI in the “severe” category. Bahadurgarh in Haryana topped the list with an AQI of 445, followed by Delhi (441), Bhiwani in Haryana (415) and Bikaner in Rajasthan (404).
AQI is categorised into six levels based on pollutant concentrations. An AQI between 0 and 50 indicates ‘good’, while 51 to 100 is considered ‘satisfactory’. Levels between 101 and 200 are classified as ‘moderate’, escalating to ‘poor’ for 201 to 300. A range of 301 to 400 is deemed “very poor”, while 401 to 450 represents ‘severe’ air pollution. Readings exceeding 450 fall into the ‘severe plus’ category, which means extremely hazardous conditions.