Delhi: Grap, bomb hoaxes, holidays disrupt school rhythm

Parents’ associations too have raised concerns regarding the constant confusion over the functioning of schools

A combination of rising pollution levels, persistent (hoax) bomb threats, and looming winter vacations have meant that schools across Delhi are constantly switching between online, offline, and hybrid mode — a turbulence that has led to constant disruption to the lives of students, teachers, and parents.

Security personnel outside Delhi Public School at R K Puram after a hoax bomb threat, on December 14. (Vipin Kumar/HT PHOTO)

Changes triggered by the fluctuating levels of pollution under the Graded Response Action Plan (Grap) have kept everyone guessing about which stage of Grap will be in force.

While Stages 1 and 2 allow regular classes, Stage 3 requires primary classes to go “hybrid”, and Stage 4 extends hybrid learning to all grades except 10 and 12. Severe pollution can even prompt the Delhi government’s Department of Education (DoE) to close all physical classes. This has meant that five years since the Covid-19 pandemic, students are experiencing the phenomenon on online classes yet again.

In addition, schools are grappling with bomb hoaxes — nearly 50 this month alone — causing mass evacuations, police investigations, and mounting anxiety. Four institutes received such threats on Tuesday.

Though all the letters were later found to be hoaxes, they add to the stress for everyone involved — schools are forced to evacuate all students and staff each time they receive such a message, while teams of police, bomb squads, and firefighters are sent in to investigate each and every case.

These hoaxes also affect schools that are not targeted — Mount Abu Public School in Rohini decided to postpone its ongoing exams till further notice after a bunch of parents arrived at the premises under the impression that the institute was one of those that had received a bomb threat.

Asha Prabhakar, chairman of the National Progressive Schools’ Conference (NPSC) and principal of Bal Bharti Public School, Noida said that schools, especially in Delhi-NCR, are soft targets for hoaxes.

“We have lost count of how many hoax threats schools have received in the last one month. To further add to confusion, Grap guidelines keep on changing every week,” Prabhakar said, emphasising that the sudden change in mode of holding classes is hindering the schools’ ability to function properly.

She said the government should find a solution to the issue of bomb threats, as these have paralysed the functioning of schools.

The final factor, is holidays. With the rapid onset of winter, schools are in a dilemma of whether to go by the academic calendar and give a winter break – scheduled to be from December 31 to January 8 – or prioritise the deadline of the syllabus and looming exams.

Principals of major schools in Delhi have decided to try and squeeze out two to three days from the winter break for classes, even if it means shifting the classes to 9.30 am instead of 7.30-8 am. However, another predicament is the Delhi weather, which is likely to get colder by first week of January, leading to severe fogs. The final decision, according to principals, is yet to be made.

Delhi Public School (DPS) RK Puram on Monday decided to only hold online classes until further notice after it received a bomb threat for a fourth time in seven days.

Parents’ associations too have raised concerns regarding the constant confusion over the functioning of schools.

Aparajita Gautam, president of Delhi Parents’ Association, said frequent school closures due to pollution and bomb threat disrupt children’s education and academic performance.

“Although online exams raise transparency and fairness concerns, they also increase digital screen time and pose health risks, including eye strain, headaches, and addiction,” she said.

Keshav Agarwal, whose child will appear for board exams this year, said, “This academic session, the Class 10 board exams are scheduled to begin a week earlier. At a time when students are in the crucial phase of their preparation, these disruptions have heightened anxiety and thrown school schedules into disarray.”

Gautam said that parents are appealing to the government and schools to address these issues. “All the stakeholders should prioritise children’s health and safety, especially students till class sixth. However, not having school or classes at all is also not a solution,” she said.

A parent of a Class 10 student of Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Vasant Vihar said that her daughter has barely been to school in the last one month. “Her mental health is being affected severely,” she said.

A Delhi Police officer probing the bomb hoaxes said the force is preparing a standard operating procedure (SOP) to be followed whenever a school receives a threat.

“We will have to distinguish between prank mails and the real ones,” the officer said.

Police said they have found that most of these threat emails were sent using VPNs, which have been traced to different countries such as The Netherlands, Sweden, and China. Officers said it could be possible that the accused is a Delhi-based person.

“Several pranksters want to delay exams, parent-teacher meetings, or other school events and we will have to check on all this and not act on every threat with all our deployment and resources,” the officer quoted above said.