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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Smog costs million kids classes and a meal -Pheroze L Vincent

Smog costs million kids classes and a meal -Pheroze L Vincent

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published Published on Nov 7, 2016   modified Modified on Nov 7, 2016
-The Telegraph

New Delhi: Delhi's 1,800-odd municipal schools have declared a holiday tomorrow citing predictions of "very poor" smog and the health risk it poses, but critics rued that over a million poor children would miss their midday meals.

Some parents said the slum children who go to these schools would be playing on the smoggy streets anyway if classes were closed.

This is the first time so many schools will close in Delhi because of air pollution, but it wasn't clear why the civic bodies had chosen just a single day, Saturday in particular.

Ashok Agarwal, president of the All India Parents Association, said the move was meant to appease the powerful teachers' lobby by giving them a longer weekend.

"On Monday, we shall take a call as to what can be done in the long run," North Delhi Municipal Corporation spokesperson Y.S. Mann said.

A government tracking centre has predicted that air pollution, as measured through tiny suspended particles labelled PM10 and PM2.5, will remain "very poor" in Delhi on Saturday.

Levels of these two particles were up to 15 times over safe limits at places in east and south Delhi even today. Severe air pollution can exacerbate cough, wheezing and breathlessness, and children are particularly vulnerable.

Some private schools have in the past too closed for smog - a grey haze of water vapour, smoke, ash and other pollutants that reduces visibility at night and early morning in winter - but these were one-off moves.

Elite schools like The Shri Ram School and The Heritage School were closed today, or curtailed outdoor activities because of the air pollution. Private schools remain closed on Saturdays anyway.

The Delhi government, which runs more than 1,000 secondary schools that cater to as many students as the civic schools, hasn't decided on closing its schools yet.

"In most parts, pollution is twice as bad at night. We are analysing the data to see if we need to close schools," environment minister Satyendar Jain said.

Delhi's Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority had told the Supreme Court in August that Delhi should follow China's example in closing schools on days of high air pollution.

A Delhi government official said: "Most of our students come from areas where the air quality is worse than that on the school premises. We haven't taken any decision so far as the weather reports say the situation might improve next week."

Agarwal, the parents' association head, said: "These are poor children who may go without food on days there is no school. If the municipalities are serious, they can issue pollution masks."

He added: "The problem is in the morning, yet both school shifts are closed. These are all neighbourhood schools, so the students wouldn't have been exposed to (street) air pollution for too long."

Most publicly funded schools in Delhi have separate morning and afternoon shifts.

Yogender Chandolia, BJP councillor and former east Delhi mayor, said next year's budget might earmark funds for buying masks.

"The morning fog is like smoke. Parents fear their children may get asthma. These are slum children whose health is usually worse compared with the average middle-class child. They are safer inside their homes."

But shopkeeper Gaurav Gupta, who walks son Kavish to nursery school through the congested alleyways of Laxmi Nagar in east Delhi every morning, was sceptical.

"It's not any more polluted than before," he said. "If he goes to school, he'll learn something. If he stays home, he'll end up playing on the streets anyway."

Madhulika Sen, principal of Tagore International School, said: "We have asked students to wear masks and have curtailed outdoor activities like physical education. We have ensured that the windows of the school buses are closed."

The American Embassy School too has curbed outdoor activities and plans to build an indoor stadium of sorts.

The Telegraph, 5 November, 2016, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1161105/jsp/nation/story_117560.jsp#.WCAiNMn71_l


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