Pakistan closes primary schools in Lahore due to record pollution

Pakistan’s second city Lahore will close primary schools for a week due to record pollution, authorities said on Sunday, to avoid exposing millions of children to smog that is several times the level considered dangerous.

For days, the city of 14 million was shrouded in smog, a mixture of fog and pollutants caused by low-level diesel fumes, smoke from seasonal crop burning and winter chill.

The air quality index, which measures a range of pollutants, topped 1,000 on Saturday – well above the 300 level considered “dangerous”, according to IQAir. The Punjab government also recorded peaks of over 1,000 on Sunday, which it said was “unprecedented”.

“The weather forecast for the next six days shows that the wind pattern will remain the same. So we are closing all public and private primary schools in Lahore for a week,” said Jahangir Anwar, a senior environmental official in Lahore.

“All classes” for children under the age of 10, “public, private and special education … remain closed for one week” from Monday to Saturday, the local government said in a decision.

The decision added that the situation would be reassessed next Saturday to determine whether to continue the school closure.