LAHORE:  , Pakistan’s most populated province of Punjab on Wednesday ( Nov 6 ) ordered schools closed in smog-hit main cities, shifting them to online learning until Nov 17, as the country battles record air pollution.
The state, home to more than half of Pakistan’s 240 million persons, had earlier locked primary schools, curbed tuk-tuks and shuttered some cooking restaurants in megalopolis Lahore.
In a number of major cities, the government on Wednesday ordered all schools to be shut down due to dust, which is a mixture of fog and pollutants brought on by low-grade gasoline fumes, seasonal agricultural losing, and winter cooling.
We are closing all higher intermediate schools, according to Marriyum Aurangzeb, a senior secretary in Punjab, during a press conference in Lahore.
The decision will affect millions of children in some of Pakistan’s largest cities, including Punjab’s municipal capital Lahore.
The secretary said on Wednesday the air quality index ( AQI), which measures a range of particles, spiked above 1, 000– well above the amount of 300 considered “dangerous”- according to statistics from IQAir.
” This week’s AQI crossed 1, 100″, Aurangzeb said.
” I appeal to people, that for god’s sake do n’t come out of your residences”, she said adding that wearing a face mask was made mandatory in affected places.
Additionally, she made it clear that half of the employees in private and public agencies did work remotely.
A 22-year-old scholar who moved her classes from Lahore to the investment Islamabad after suffering from allergies and asthma, said,” It’s like a sluggish horror movie, continually creeping up behind you.
” All has a right to clear air”, she told AFP.