Bad-air days: Delhi schools to open 2 hrs late, offices 2 hrs early?

NEW DELHI: Government agencies are contemplating altering school, markets and office timings on days when air pollution reaches alarming levels in Delhi and its surrounding areas. This was discussed at a meeting of the Central Pollution Control Board-led graded response action plan task force met on Thursday.
A task force member told TOI that a proposal to push back school timings from 8am to 10am and change office and market timings from 10am to 8am was considered at the meeting. “Pollution is usually at its peak during early morning and evening.



The proposal was to open markets from 8am to 6pm instead of 10am to 9pm, and push up office timings, too, by a couple of hours. Similarly, to avoid exposure to children, it was suggested that, instead of schools starting at 8am, they can be asked to commence at 10am, so that children get out of their homes after 8am, instead of 6am,” the task force member, who wished not to be named, said.

The task force, which includes government officials, and environment, health and weather experts, advises the Supreme Court-mandated Environment Pollution (Prevention & Control) Authority, which, in turn, notifies anti-pollution measures to be implemented by the different government agencies.

However, the proposal was opposed by some members who cited logistical issues. “Theidea is to stagger working hours. But it’s already happening. First school-goers are out at 6.30am-7am, then office-goers at 8am. Central government employees are out at 9am, state government employees at 9.30am while markets are opening at 10am. The total travel is already distributed over four hours. The proposal talks about opening shops and offices early and schools late. That is difficult logistically,” a Delhi government official said.

Another practical problem is that government schools in the city are already running in two shifts — morning and evening. While morning shifts are from 7.30am-1pm, evening ones run from 1.30pm-6.30pm. “Only a few private schools have single shifts. It is not feasible in a school that already has two shifts to alter the opening time by two hours,” the official said.

This is not the first time that authorities have contemplated tough action to protect children. In the first week of November in 2016, Delhi shut all schools for three days as its residents struggled with a choking weeklong smog. In 2016, the air pollution in Delhi was the worst on record, and the city had experienced its thickest smog in 17 years, with the average AQI hitting a peak of 497, during this period.

Similarly, in the first week of the same month in 2017, all schools in the capital were closed for three days. NCR experienced an unprecedented pollution crisis last year when the air became unfit to breathe for a week, staying in the “severe” category between November 7 and 14. The worst was on November 9, when AQI hit 486. Dust from the Gulf region was later identified as the main reason for the smog crisis.