Continue restricting outdoor activities for children: Govt to

The Delhi government has directed schools across the national capital to appeal to parents to continue restricting outdoor activities of their wards as long the pollution condition persists.
The government restricted outdoor activities in schools and asked parents to follow the same at home when the pollution level in the city touched alarming levels earlier this month. Schools also remained closed for a week when the situation turned worse.
After two days of relatively cleaner air, the air quality of Delhi once again turned 'very poor' yesterday as the impact of sporadic drizzle in flushing out pollutants ebbed and more vehicles hit the streets on the first working day of the week.

"Schools are directed to explain to parents about the worrisome air pollution situation prevailing in and across Delhi and appeal to them to further restrain their children from undertaking outdoor activities till severe pollution condition persists," Directorate of Education (DoE) said in an official order.
"Outdoor activities and exposure in polluted conditions could have long term detrimental effects on health of children. Therefore, parents may be requested to adopt preventive approach to safeguard their child's health," it added.
The directive by the DoE comes following an advisory from the Central Pollution Control Board's (CPCB) which recommended restricting outdoor activities for children among other measures as part of the Graded Response Plan for dealing with the pollution situation.