ROMA – In Pakistan, around 26 million girls and boys, almost half of all school-age children, will not go to school until at least mid-November due to air pollution. It is the alarm he is raising today Save the Childrenwhich highlights how it is the second time this year that schools in the country have been forced to close to protect children’s health. After air pollution levels once again reached very high figures and Lahore, the provincial capital, was ranked as the most polluted city in the world on Thursday, the country ordered the closure of all schools in its most populous province, the Punjab.
In Lahore the air is classified as “hazardous”. Real-time readings for Lahore, by the Swiss group IQAIr, classified the air quality as “hazardous” and showed that the city’s fine particulate air pollution (or PM 2.5 concentration) was above 100 times higher than the World Health Organization‘s annual air quality guidelines.
Already in May the schools had to close. In May, primary and secondary schools were forced to close due to extreme heat due to a prolonged heat wave. On that occasion, Save the Children Pakistan has launched a social media campaign to raise awareness among children and their families about precautions to take during a heat wave. Earlier this week, authorities in Lahore ordered primary schools to close for a week to protect children from respiratory diseases after the air quality index reached a record high over the weekend.
11 million inhabitants under a thick blanket of smog. The city, which has 11 million people, has been shrouded in thick haze for much of the week. Last year, Lahore ranked 5th among the most polluted cities in the world, recording crop fires, poor-quality fuel in vehicles and construction historically thought to be the main causes of the country’s air pollution.
A mask is mandatory outdoors. The provincial government has made wearing masks mandatory in public, the tertiary sector has been asked to adopt a remote working policy for 50% of its workforce, and all government meetings have been moved online until further notice. Last month, Pakistan’s Environmental Protection Agency ordered schools in Punjab to place children with medical conditions that could worsen due to poor air quality on a three-month leave of absence.
Save The Children in Pakistan. The NGO has been working in Pakistan since 1979 and has reached at least 14 million beneficiaries, including girls and boys, through health and nutrition, education, child protection, livelihoods and humanitarian response programs.
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