Haryana / Schools shut in Gurugram, 3 other Haryana districts amid air pollution

Gurugram: In view of deteriorating air quality in the national capital region (NCR), the Haryana government plans to shut schools in four districts -- Gurugram, Faridabad, Sonipat and Jhajjar -- till further orders, officials said on Thursday.

This comes after the Delhi government on Thursday announced that schools will remain closed in the national capital amid rising air pollution.

S Narayanan, member secretary of Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) said, “We are planning to close schools in the four districts, and have written to the Chief Secretary on this. We are awaiting a final approval, as the Chief Secretary has agreed to it in-principle. The schools will remain closed till further orders.” Till the filing of this copy, the order was not being issued.

In Gurugram, many private schools resumed offline classes on Monday, though the overall attendance was very low.

After getting the government’s nod to reopen schools from September (after the second Covid-19 wave subsided in Haryana), schools in Gurugram were closed again from November 14 to 17 due to the deteriorating air quality.

On November 17, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) directed all private and government schools, and other educational institutions in Delhi and NCR cities to remain closed “until further orders”.

On November 25, the deputy commissioner of Gurugram, Dr Yash Garg, released an order allowing all schools and other educational institutions to open from Friday (November 26) with strict Covid-19 protocols in place, but only a few schools reopened on Friday.