Schools across Delhi-NCR are facing significant challenges implementing hybrid learning models as the region grapples with severe air pollution conditions. The educational institutions have become early responders to this year's toxic air season, with mandatory hybrid classes creating operational difficulties and concerns among parents and educators alike.
GRAP 3 Mandates Hybrid Learning
The Delhi government took decisive action on November 11, mandating hybrid classes - a combination of physical and online teaching - for students up to Class 5. This directive was quickly followed by similar measures in Noida, Greater Noida, and Gurgaon, where schools were required to adopt hybrid learning models for younger students under the Commission for Air Quality Management's GRAP Stage 3 restrictions.
Nearly two weeks later, both GRAP 3 and the hybrid learning mode remain in effect. The situation gained additional attention on November 20 when the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) intervened, asking the Delhi Department of Education to take appropriate action following complaints from a Delhi-NCR parents group seeking complete online classes.
Teaching Challenges in Hybrid Mode
Educators report that hybrid learning has proven only partially successful due to the absence of clear guidelines. A senior government school teacher from Dwarka highlighted the fundamental problems: "The lesson plans are different for online and offline sessions. There's confusion about whether extra classes should be conducted on Google Classroom or if both modes should run parallel. When teachers write on the board, how will online students read it?"
Schools have adopted varying approaches to address these challenges. Sardar Patel Vidyalaya informed parents that hybrid mode would apply from nursery to Class 5, while older children would continue with regular school attendance. However, the school openly acknowledged that "teachers may have limited attention for online students" and encouraged physical attendance whenever possible.
According to Bharat Arora, President of the Action Committee of Unaided Private Schools and Managing Director of the Mount Abu group of schools, "at least 70% of private schools have transitioned to hybrid mode" despite the operational difficulties.
Health Impacts on Children
The primary victims of the deteriorating air quality are the children themselves. Teachers report alarming absence rates, with one Dwarka government school teacher noting that fourteen of her students were absent on a single day, compared to the usual four or five absences.
Aparajita Gautam, President of the Delhi Parents' Association, identified that children with sensitivity, weakened immunity, and asthma are particularly vulnerable to the polluted conditions. The situation has become so dire that Arora noted "setting up air purifiers in classrooms has become a necessity now, just like air-conditioners in summer."
Some schools have implemented sophisticated air quality management systems. Vasant Valley School developed a standard operating procedure based on specific AQI thresholds. When AQI reaches between 200-350, all outdoor activities and physical education lessons stop. At AQI levels of 350-400, hybrid lessons begin for junior school, while GRAP 4 conditions (AQI above 400) trigger hybrid mode for all classes.
Parental Frustration and Inequality Concerns
Parents across Delhi-NCR express growing distress and frustration with the recurring air quality crisis. Leher Sethi, mother of a 10-year-old boy in South Delhi, shared her heartbreak at seeing her child wear masks from the age of two in 2018. "This is the city where we have to teach them to wear masks," she lamented.
Sethi also highlighted the fundamental inequality in how different children experience the pollution crisis. "We have purifiers in the school because parents have funded it. It is the underprivileged who suffer the most," she pointed out, emphasizing the disproportionate impact on less privileged communities.
Bhavreen Kandhari, co-founder of the environmental collective Warrior Moms and mother of twin daughters, criticized the reactive nature of current measures. "The thinking that the problem is only in these three months is wrong. A lot of mothers feel that there needs to be a year-round solution," she asserted, calling for proper stakeholder consultation.
This year's struggle with air pollution and educational disruption is not an isolated incident. Since 2016, schools have consistently faced closures during early November. Similar patterns occurred in 2021, 2022, and 2023, with last year marking the first implementation of hybrid learning starting November 25 before resuming in-person classes on December 5.
As the toxic air season becomes an annual reality for Delhi-NCR, parents, educators, and policymakers continue searching for sustainable solutions to protect children's health while ensuring uninterrupted education.
