Schools in the Pakistani city of Lahore, ranked Wednesday the most polluted in the world, according to an air quality measurement body, will have to close two days a week to protect the health of students, a court ordered.
Every winter, smog reaches worrying levels in Lahore, Pakistan’s second largest city with more than 11 million people, located in the east of the country near the border with India.
On Wednesday morning, Lahore was briefly ranked the city with the highest air pollution in the world by the specialized network IQAir, with an air quality index (AQI) of 234, described as “very unhealthy”.
The level of PM2.5 fine particles, the most dangerous, was 183.5 micrograms per cubic meter of air (μg / m3), or 36 times the level recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Hospitals have reported in recent weeks an influx of patients with respiratory problems, or eye or throat irritation.
A Lahore court ruled on Tuesday that public and private schools in the city must close on Fridays and Saturdays, in addition to the Sunday holiday, until further notice.
Another judgment handed down on Wednesday stipulates that all public service employees must now also work from home on Fridays and Saturdays.
The secretary general of the teachers’ union in the province of Punjab, of which Lahore is the capital, nevertheless considered that the “solution [n’était] unsustainable”.
“Staying at home is not necessarily going to protect students from pollution any more than going to school. At least by going to school, students will not be penalized in their studies,” Rana Liaqat Ali told AFP on Wednesday.
“Smog, COVID-19 and dengue are all part of our daily lives now. We must learn to live with them and not isolate ourselves,” he added.
As in neighboring India, the fall in temperatures accompanied by weak winds flattens pollution, resulting from agricultural burning and industrial or automobile emissions, on the ground, generating respiratory and cardiac problems.
According to IQAir, Pakistan was in 2021 the third country in the world for its air pollution. Pakistani authorities have been slow to react, accusing arch-rival India of causing smog and also disputed pollution figures, despite some attempts to crack down on the most polluting industrial sites.