Noida, Ghaziabad schools go online amid Grap measures

All principals and headmasters of government, aided, and private schools, as well as coaching centres operating in the district, have been instructed to ensure strict compliance

Noida: The Gautam Budh Nagar, and Ghaziabad district administrations on Sunday ordered online classes for pre-nursery to Class 5 and a hybrid mode for Classes 6 to 12, a day after the Graded Response Action Plan (Grap) Stage-4 was invoked across the Delhi-NCR on Saturday as air quality plunged into “severe” category.

Other concerned authorities have also been directed to monitor effective implementation. Similarly, the Ghaziabad administration also issued comparable directions for schools. (HT Archive)

“As directed under the Grap-4 category, all schools affiliated with various boards in Gautam Budh Nagar will shift to online mode from pre-nursery/nursery to Class 5 and hybrid mode—both online and physical (wherever online mode is feasible)—for Classes 6 to 12,” said Rajesh Kumar Singh, district inspector of schools (DIOS), Gautam Budh Nagar, in a statement.

“The move aims to minimise students’ exposure to polluted air and safeguard their health during the current environmental conditions. All principals and headmasters of government, aided, and private schools, as well as coaching centres operating in the district, have been instructed to ensure strict compliance,” the DIOS added.

Other concerned authorities have also been directed to monitor effective implementation. Similarly, the Ghaziabad administration also issued comparable directions for schools.

On Sunday, the air quality worsened further but stayed in the severe category in Noida and Ghaziabad. Noida recorded an AQI of 466 - the highest in the country as per the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) 4 pm data - up from 455 on Saturday. Greater Noida logged 435, slightly improving from 442, while Ghaziabad saw a sharp rise to 459 from 430 a day earlier, according to the CPCB.

According to the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, surface winds on Sunday were predominantly northerly, with calm conditions and speeds reaching up to 5 kmph during the afternoon. Wind speeds further declined to below 5 kmph during the evening and night.

Noida recorded the worst Air Quality Index (AQI) in the country on Saturday, logging a reading of 455 (severe) at 4 pm, and was the only city to breach the 450-mark.

The CPBC classifies an AQI of 0-50 as “good”, 51-100 as “satisfactory”, 101-200 as “moderate”, 201-300 as “poor”, 301-400 as “very poor” and 401-500 as “severe”.

.