‘How many kids have air purifiers at home?’: On school closure, not everyone is on board

Because of the long experience of remote learning during the pandemic, most private schools are ready to switch to online classes for primary grades. “Online classes will commence as usual, and the timetable will be allocated to parents by teachers. Simultaneously, keeping the mental health of children in mind, we will be providing counselling, yoga and awareness sessions,” said Alka Kapur, principal, Modern Public School, Shalimar Bagh.

However, as The Indian Express had reported Friday, most school administrators are against resorting to school closures, saying that it is a disruption and does very little to address the problem.

Vibha Singh, principal of an MCD school in East Delhi, said it may even be counterproductive in the case of schools like hers: “Asking children not to come to school won’t be protecting them from polluted air. Most of our students are from very poor families — many live in slums and in one-room houses. They won’t stay inside their homes, they will definitely go out. They will go out into the pollution we are trying to save them from.” She also said teaching-learning will come to a halt because of the challenges of connecting digitally with students in schools like hers.

There is discontent among parents too. Tanya Aggarwal, a lawyer and parent of a class 2 child, questioned how the air at home differed from that at school.

“Every year, the kids are victims of the government’s pollution response, probably because they are the easiest targets. How is air any different for these kids, whether they are at home, in a park, or a friend’s house? How many homes have an air purifier? It’s a luxury item. The children have come out of a two-year long Covid closure and are recovering from the repercussions of that,” she said.

School closures because of pollution and levels are now an annual occurrence in Delhi. This disruption for primary classes comes after schools in Delhi finally fully opened physically for all grades in April this year after more than two years of closure because of Covid.

After closures since March 2020, Delhi had ventured into reopening for pre-primary, primary and middle school students from November 1, 2021, but closed for all grades within two weeks from November 15 because of rising air pollution levels. In 2021, Delhi also experienced its longest ‘air pollution closure’. When schools reopened for all grades on November 29, they were ordered shut again citing air pollution within days on December 2. They opened briefly for 10 days for classes 6 to 12, before they closed completely on December 29 because of the Omicron- driven Covid surge. After this, they had finally opened again partially for primary students in February this year, and compulsorily for all students from April 1.

Before the government’s announcement on Friday, schools had already begun to self-regulate by taking steps such as decreasing outdoor activities.

“School closure is mere tokenism — for the government to show they did something. While there are many parents who are for it and that’s a personal choice, they can choose to keep kids at home without the government having to mandate it. Better air at home is probably true for only 1% of the homes, who have the means to buy air purifiers. So, it is not clear who this move really benefits, especially in light of pre-existing social and developmental losses among children due to extended Covid-related school closures,” said Dharini Mathur, parent of a class 1 child.