Pollution shuts down Indian schools as smog consumes Delhi

India's capital Delhi was covered with toxic smoke on Thursday. Schools in the outskirts of Delhi were ordered to close on Thursday and Friday as the city's air quality index hit a dangerously high 474 on a scale of 500, according to the data from government pollution monitor.

Parents of children forced to stay indoors have raised concerns that school curriculum are not being fully completed and say pollution is the biggest threat to their children's education. Air quality at "severe" levels can seriously impact those with existing diseases and also affect healthy people, according to government guidance. However, activists say despite choking levels of pollution, residents of Delhi largely ignore the health risks.