It is 8.35 am. The laptop is already open on the dining table, and the teacher is waiting on the screen. The child is still under the layers of bedsheets. A mother tugs at the blanket with one hand and holds a muted office call on the other. Somewhere between the toothbrush and the tiffin, the class link goes missing.Thousands of homes across Delhi-NCR know this scene. This year, families are bracing for it before the festival has even begun.Last year, after the Delhi AQI jumped into the “severe” range in mid-November, the government asked schools to run classes up to Class 5 in hybrid mode. By December, the government ordered hybrid classes for students up to Classes 9 and 11. This year, Delhi’s air entered the “very poor” category on November 2, and Stage II of the Graded Response Action Plan is already in force across NCR. With Diwali falling on Sunday, parents are increasingly asking not whether classes will shift online, but when.“We have named it pollution break”“After Covid, the system understood that children can be put in online classes. They have made it the new normal,” said Aprajita Gautam, president of the Delhi Parents Association (DPA).“For the last four-five years, there have been 10 to 15 days of holidays because of pollution. We have named it ‘pollution break’. Slowly, the younger children’s schools close first, followed by the older children’s schools, and everyone goes online,” she said.Schools feel the squeeze too. Naman Jain, vice chairman of Silverline Prestige School in Ghaziabad, says the break leaves little room. “November and December are the only two months where we have to take the academics forward,” he said. But whatever the school calendar says, it is at home that the days get rearranged.Mothers and fathers rewrite the day“We will manage the online classes. There is no other alternative,” said Ginny Bhandari, a counsellor at the Delhi Institute of Computer Science in Punjabi Bagh. Her daughter is in Class 6 at a DAV school in north Delhi. “Otherwise, we will drop her at a relative’s house and pick her up in the evening,” she explained, recalling last year’s ordeal.Story continues below this adOthers are pulled in too. Gautam describes a household roster. “One day, the husband takes leave, the next day I take leave, and on another day, the child stays with the grandmother. That is how we manage.”School heads see where the extra load lands. Jain says it is mothers. “Mothers’ work increases by 100 per cent. Online, we try to give a child’s classroom experience on a 5-inch or 11-inch screen. Getting the child in front of that screen is where the mother’s intervention comes in.”Screens, homework and no festivalOnce the child is at home, the screen becomes the next battle. “She comes home from school, and the first thing she picks up is the mobile,” Bhandari said. “I keep calling from the office. What are you doing? Complete your homework by the time we come.” Taking the phone away is not possible, she says, because “all the homework comes on mobile”.Gautam says parents are being pushed into it. “The court says don’t give children phones. We are not giving them. You are forcing us, whether it is a pollution break, floods or heat.” Exams do not pause either. “Before Diwali there is a unit test; after Diwali there is one. We are not able to enjoy the festivities,” Bhandari said.Story continues below this adYet many families are not arguing over who holds the phone. They are asking whether there is one.Government schools bear the bruntThat is the question Gautam raises. “A government school child with a basic mobile, how will that child do a week, five days, 15 days of online class? How will that child survive?” she asked. “I can manage. A woman in a private job can work from home. The woman who cleans my house cannot. What about house helps? Is education the property of the rich?”Those who run government schools see it too. A principal in north-west Delhi’s government school says the gap goes beyond devices. “Private schools are already ready. They have systematic mechanisms,” the principal said. “In government schools, neither is the teacher trained, nor does the teacher want to teach, nor do the children want to study. This is the case in 90 per cent of cases.”Covid, he recalled, offered little proof otherwise. “They just turn on the phone and leave it.” If an order comes now, he said, teachers “will do it as a show”.Story continues below this adFestivals and duties thin the classrooms further. “After Diwali, a large number of students go to their hometowns. Those who do not go also do not come to school,” he said. “About 50 per cent of the staff is engaged in SIR duty, census duty, sports and tournaments.”“Online can never replace offline,” he said. “It is going on out of helplessness.”What schools sayPrivate schools see the shift differently. No order has come yet, Jain said, and he argues for school-level choice. “The administration’s decision should be based on the school’s ability to conduct classes safely. There should be autonomy to schools rather than a blanket order.” His own school, he added, is “air-conditioned through and through”.For parents, though, the pattern is already settled. “They know the method will be the same every year. Thirty days in a year go in holidays in this name,” Gautam said.Story continues below this adDiwali is this Sunday. The pollution break, as usual, has not needed an invitation.