Gurugram, Faridabad shut primary schools owing to air pollution

The Gurugram administration has ordered the suspension of classes from nursery to class five till further orders to protect school children from rising pollution in NCR.

Faridabad's Deputy Commissioner Vikram Singh has also ordered the closure of schools till October 12 for children from class one to five from Tuesday.

The AQI in the district has been "extremely dangerous" for last one week. It reached 412 on Monday while the industrial district was ranked fifth among the most polluted cities in the country.

Gurugram District Disaster Management Authority Chairman and DC Nishant Kumar Yadav issued the order in this regard on Monday. Schools have been ordered to continue online studies so that the education of students is not disrupted.

The order will be applicable for all private and government educational institutions of the district from November 7 and will remain effective till further orders.

Yadav said that due to the continuous increase in the air quality index, the situation has reached GRAP IV stage.

Earlier, the Haryana government had asked the deputy commissioners in the NCR to assess the situation in their districts and take a call on closing schools. For the last few days, the AQI has turned 'severe' in some districts, including Gurugram.

Pollution levels in Delhi-NCR on Monday morning were recorded around seven to eight times above the government-prescribed safe limit as a toxic haze persisted over the region for the seventh consecutive day.

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