Relief as Delhi schools reopen but smog crisis persists

New Delhi: Teenage student Aniksha is relieved to be back in class in India s capital even if the choking smog that prompted her school to close la...

New Delhi: Teenage student Aniksha is relieved to be back in class in India's capital -- even if the choking smog that prompted her school to close last month has yet to dissipate.

New Delhi and the surrounding metropolitan area is home to more than 30 million people and is blanketed by a thick and acrid haze each winter.

The public health crisis has grown steadily worse over the years and weeks-long school closures across the capital, aimed at shielding vulnerable children from the harmful skies, are now an annual occurrence.

But for the students like Aniksha it is a dreary ritual that disrupts their learning for weeks and keeps them stuck at home, isolated from friends.

"It's boring to stay at home," Aniksha, who uses only one name, told AFP on the grounds of her government school in the capital's west.