Delhi's Primary Schools Shift to Virtual Learning due to Rising Pollution

The Indian capital "New Delhi" ordered all primary schools to close until further notice on Thursday evening due to worsening smog in the city, which could negatively impact students’ health.

“Due to rising pollution levels, all primary schools in Delhi will switch to online classes until further notice,” New Delhi Chief Minister Atishi Marlena said on social media platform X.

A dense smog blankets the capital New Delhi every year, largely due to farmers elsewhere in India burning stubble to clear their fields for ploughing, as well as smoke from factories and vehicle exhausts.

Schools typically close during the worst weeks of the annual smog crisis, which also leads to other disruptions across the city.

Smog causes thousands of premature deaths each year, with fragmented government initiatives failing to address the problem in a meaningful way.

A study in the Lancet medical journal attributed 1.67 million premature deaths in 2019 to air pollution in the world’s most populous country.

Cold temperatures and slow winds make the situation worse during winter, the period from mid-October until at least January.

New Delhi and its surrounding metropolitan area, home to more than 30 million people, consistently top global rankings for winter air pollution.

The choking smog across New Delhi comes as researchers warn that global warming fossil fuel emissions will hit a record high this year, according to new findings from an international network of scientists at the Global Carbon Project.