Amid soaring pollution levels in the national capital, the Delhi government announced plans to install air purifiers in 10,000 school classrooms in the first phase of a major air quality initiative. The project aims to ensure clean air for students and safeguard their health.
Delhi Education Minister Ashish Sood stated that the tender process for the installation has already begun. “We want our children to study smart and also breathe smart air. In the first phase, air purifiers will be installed in 10,000 classrooms,” he said, highlighting the government’s long-term administrative approach.
The initiative comes as the Delhi-NCR region grapples with severe air quality, leading to the imposition of GRAP-IV measures. Offline classes for students up to Class 5 have been suspended, while Classes 6 to 12 are continuing in hybrid mode to reduce exposure to hazardous pollution.
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Sood criticized the previous Aam Aadmi Party-led government, alleging that it failed to implement effective measures to curb air pollution and focused instead on publicity campaigns such as odd-even car schemes. He also claimed that 30% of air quality monitoring stations were installed in green belts, intended more to influence statistics than improve actual air quality.
Schools have been instructed to minimize physical attendance and continue lessons through a combination of online and offline learning. Under GRAP-IV, authorities may suspend physical classes for Classes VI to IX and XI depending on local conditions, as part of precautionary measures against high AQI.
The Delhi government emphasized that the air purifier project is a long-term solution to protect students, alongside other pollution control initiatives. The first phase covering 10,000 classrooms is expected to set the foundation for broader measures to ensure safe learning environments across the city.
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