Delhi bans outdoor school activities as toxic winter smog chokes city

In a decisive intervention, the Supreme Court has mandated Delhi schools to suspend all outdoor activities during the capital’s peak pollution months, underscoring the grave health risks posed to children by the city’s worsening air crisis.

The judiciary’s stern directive follows escalating public outrage and sharp rises in pollution, which have pushed the Air Quality Index (AQI) into the “severe” category — levels hazardous even for healthy adults.

The move comes on the heels of a landmark observation by the Delhi High Court, which criticized the government’s decision to hold outdoor sports events amid dangerously poor air conditions.

Justice Sachin Datta pointedly questioned why the authorities persist in scheduling such activities between November and January — when Delhi’s air quality routinely plummets—asserting that children “should not take part in outdoor sports” during these months. He further urged a revision of the sports calendar to protect young students from inhaling toxic air.

Representing the petitioners—minor students — counsel highlighted how several outdoor sports events were still scheduled despite the AQI dropping into the “very poor” bracket. A photograph presented by a pulmonologist vividly illustrated the impact of fine particulate pollution (PM2.5 and PM10) on children’s lungs, driving home the urgent need for protective measures.

The Supreme Court’s comments, issued just a day before the High Court’s hearing, were even more scathing. Reviewing the air crisis, the bench ordered the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) to issue immediate guidelines shifting all school outdoor sports to months with cleaner air.

The court warned that allowing children to engage in outdoor activities during November and December “amounts to putting school children in a gas chamber,” underscoring both the severity of the pollution and the government’s sluggish response.

Medical experts have long warned that children are disproportionately vulnerable to air pollution. Their developing lungs, faster breathing rates, and longer outdoor exposure mean that they absorb far more toxins than adults. Studies have linked prolonged exposure to PM2.5 and PM10 with permanent lung damage, increased asthma rates, weakened immunity, and even impaired cognitive function.

For many Delhi families, the consequences are deeply personal. Paediatric pulmonologists report that hospital visits spike by as much as 30–40% every winter, with persistent coughs, inhaler use, and respiratory ailments becoming grim routine. What was once a seasonal concern has now become a pressing public health emergency.

The courts’ intervention is more than administrative caution — it is a crucial public health mandate. As Delhi braces for another polluted winter, the judiciary’s message is clear: the health of schoolchildren cannot be sacrificed to maintain the status quo.

Without swift action by state authorities, the court’s “gas chamber” warning risks becoming a tragic reality for an entire generation of Delhi’s youth.