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After Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal declared closing of schools in view of the health emergency in Delhi-NCR, residents of Noida and Greater Noida tweeted asking district administration to follow suit.
Deteriorating air quality has forced the Environment Pollution (Prevention & Control) Authorityand pollution to revise its guidelines prompting the CM to declared closure of all school in the National Capital with immediate effect from Saturday to November 5.
However, no instruction, neither the administration nor environmental bodies, came forward to suggest similar measure to Gautam Budh Nagar. This worries the parents of school-going children in the NCR region.
Raising health concerns of the children, the Twitterati of the GB Nagar requested the administration to issue a directive to close all the schools in Noida and Greater Noida for a couple of days.
A few parents, who CitySpidey spoke to, pointed out that many of them have already stopped sending their wards to school because of the rise in pollution levels.
Shikha Sharma, a resident of Greater Noida, said, “I stopped sending my children to school after they complained of breathlessness. My son has asthma, I have to be more careful about him.”
Citing the example of quick action by the Delhi government, many asked the administration and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister to act promptly before it's too late while a few questioned as to why no guidelines have been issued when the pollution is already severe in the region.
Brajesh Sharma, a resident of Noida, said, “These days UPPCB and CPCB have been giving guidelines for everything, why are they not giving any guidelines for Noida schools.”
CitySpidey also spoke to management and principals of a few schools in Gautam Budh Nagar. They said that they were expecting a word from the administration though no decision has been reached yet. In case nothing comes from the authorities' end, they would take individual initiative and either announce holidays citing pollution or will re-work the school timings.
Principal of a private school in Noida said, “For us, well-being of our children is more important. Though there will be a loss as we are just a month away from the winter break, but seeing the degrading air quality it's best for the children to stay indoors.”
