Delhi Schools Closure News: Classes for all students except Class 10, 12 moved online as AQI drops to ‘severe’ plus zone

Amid the rising air pollution in the nationals capital and the GRAP Stage 4 guidelines in effect from Monday, Chief Minister Atishi on Sunday announced that physical classes will be discontinued for all students till class 9. However, Class 10 and 12 will have to attend physical classes. All schools will hold online classes, until further orders, she added.

She took to X and wrote, “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.”

Meanwhile, Delhi-NCR region will implement additional restrictions from Monday morning amid worsening air quality.

Earlier in the day, the air quality in Delhi worsened further, recording an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 457 by 7pm on Sunday, placing it in the "severe plus" category.

In the Stage-IV response, an 8-point action plan is designed to mitigate the pollution crisis.

What is banned in Delhi under GRAP-4?

1) Except for those carrying essential goods, diesel-run medium and heavy goods vehicles registered in Delhi (BS-IV or below) are banned.

2) Non-essential light commercial vehicles from outside Delhi have been banned unless they use cleaner fuels like CNG or BS-VI diesel or are electric vehicles.

3) Trucks carrying non-essential items are barred from entering Delhi unless they operate on LNG, CNG, or BS-VI diesel.

4) The CAQM panel had recommended shifting classes 6 to 9 and class 11 to online mode earlier.

5) The offices in the NCR region have been advised to operate at 50 per cent capacity, with the remaining workforce working from home.

According to the Centre's Decision Support System for Air Quality Management, vehicles contributed 15.8 per cent of Delhi's air pollution on Sunday.

Another factor was stubble burning, which accounted for 25 per cent of total pollution. PM2.5 remains a prominent pollutant.