When ‘very poor’ is better: Offline classes to resume from tomorrow

Noida: Schools will resume offline mode of teaching for all classes from Wednesday as the air quality has improved, the district education department said on Monday.
Gautam Budh Nagar district inspector of schools Dharamveer Singh said the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) revoked its November 3 order for steps under stage-4 of Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) with immediate effect on Sunday.
“In GRAP-4, the CAQM had earlier said the state government may consider additional emergency measures like closure of schools, colleges and educational institutions. Accordingly, we had issued an order to all schools to conduct online sessions for classes 1-8 on November 4-8. We had also asked schools to conduct online classes for students of classes 9-12, if possible. Later, we revised the order and asked playschools to either conduct online sessions or close. Since the CAQM has revoked its order, the district administration also decided to allow schools to operate in offline mode, because closure of schools is mandated only in GRAP-4,” he said. On November 8, all schools will remain closed on the occasion of Guru Nanak Jayanti.
Parents have welcomed the department’s “swift action”. “It is good to see swift response from the district administration and education department in compliance with the CAQM directions. The air quality may fluctuate in the coming days. The department should make an action plan considering the winter forecast,” Brajesh Kumar Sharma, a resident of Antriksh Golf View in Sector 78, said. CAQM, in its Sunday order, said actions under stages-1 to 3 of GRAP shall remain invoked and be implemented, monitored and reviewed by all agencies concerned in NCR to ensure that the AQI levels do not slip further to the ‘severe’ or ‘severe +’ category.
GRAP-3 is implemented when AQI is between 401 and 450.At this stage, the measures include intensified frequency of mechanised sweeping, water sprinkling and use of public transport as well as ban on construction activities. Meanwhile, Noida’s air quality index (AQI) was 328 on Monday compared to 320 on Sunday (both ‘very poor’). Greater Noida’s AQI was 298 against 299 (both ‘poor’) the day before, while Ghaziabad’s air slipped to ‘very poor’ at 304. It was 288 (‘poor’) the previous day.
System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) said that the air quality in Delhi-NCR is likely to improve further but remain within ‘very poor’ or upper end of ‘poor’ on November 7-9 due to weak upper level wind flow blowing from west or northwest direction, reduction in local emissions, and moderate dispersion of pollutants leading to dilution of near surface pollution. Praveen Kumar, the UPPCB regional officer for Noida, said the department has been conducting enforcement drives for GRAP compliance. “On Monday, we fined 10 people and issued challans of Rs 8.4 lakh for non-compliance of C&D waste rules,” he said.