The Delhi Government on Tuesday decided to keep in abeyance its directive to schools in the city to install air purifiers for comabting air pollution. The Directorate of Education (DoE), however, did not specify any reason for suspending the directive within few days of issuing it.
The decision comes in the backdrop of few schools raising concern that the “massive” exercise could cost them a lot of money. The Delhi Government runs around 1,100 schools.
The DoE had sent a letter to schools on April 26 asking o them to install air-purifiers so as to ensure students don’t face health hazards due to air pollution.
“The directive has been kept in abeyance with immediate effect,” a fresh communication sent to schools on Tuesday, states.
In the April-26 directive, the DoE had also asked school heads to create awareness among students about adverse impact of indiscriminate burning of firecrackers on public health.
“The ambient air quality of Delhi needs to be improved. In view of the gravity of harm to human health due to inferior ambient air quality, schools should take action to install air filters as per need,” the previous communication had said. The schools were also asked to submit a compliance report within 15 days. Asked about reasons behind suspending the notice, DoE officials chose not to comment.
Meanwhile environmental experts opined that installing air purifiers in classrooms is “impractical” and can trigger a spike in the levels of Carbon dioxide instead of containing air pollution, experts have opined. They welcomed the decision by the Delhi government to put on hold a directive asking schools to install air purifiers.
Anurag Agrawal of the CSIR Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology said that the cost aspect of installing air purifiers at such a large scale makes it potentially “impractical”.
“Air purifiers typically work by trapping the fine particulate matter in HEPA (High efficiency particulate air) filters. These filters need to be replaced frequently otherwise they get blocked,” he said.
Anumita Roychowdhury of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said that in a “dynamic environment” like a classroom installing air purifiers does not serve the purpose because even if the room is sealed, its doors will have to be opened and shut frequently.
“That way one will lose what is being purified. It may also lead to a spike in the levels of Carbon dioxide in the room which makes people lethargic. So it is not really the option,” she said.