Despite Gurugram deputy commissioner (DC) Ajay Kumar’s order on November 13 directing all schools to conduct classes up to Grade 5 in hybrid mode, teachers reported that most of the government primary schools continued to operate offline.
Officials said the decision was taken in view of air quality level hovering between ‘very poor’ and ‘poor’ categories for consecutive days.
This week, Gurugram’s AQI crossed the 300-mark and the situation stayed critical amid stagnant winds and accelerating pollution.
“No classes were held online even for a single day. The district education officer asked the government schools to continue in physical mode, despite the high AQI and smog,” said Ashok Prajapati, district president of Rajkiya Prathmik Shikshak Sangh.
School timings were changed on November 15 to 9:30 AM–3:30 PM, from the earlier 8:00 AM, added Prajapati.
Schools in Farrukhnagar also continued to operate offline. “Parents were told they could either send their children to school or opt for virtual classes,” said Harel Chaturvedi, a teacher at a government primary school in the area.
“Most parents opted to send their children to school because of poor network connectivity in rural areas. In poor families, there is often only one phone for three to four children, so virtual classes don’t really work for them,” added Chaturvedi.
A message was circulated on Whatsapp regarding online classes, however, the classes never took place, said Reena Tyagi, mother of a Grade 2 student. ”Despite heavy smog, I had to send my children to school. They don’t even wear masks,” added Tyagi.
The AQI on Thursday was recorded at 302 (‘very poor’) category, with PM2.5 identified as the prominent pollutant. Among the monitoring stations, sector 51 reported the worst levels, recording an AQI of 346 at 6 PM.
Captain Indu Boken, district education officer did not respond for comments on the issue despite HT’s multiple calls and messages.