LAHORE – Punjab Education Minister Rana Sikanadar Hayat has announced closure of all public and private schools across the province amid increasing smog.
The provincial minister said the educational institutions will remained closed till November 17, adding that the decision has been taken in line with requests made by the districts.
“We are aware of the educational losses but we are forced to close the schools due to environmental issues,” the minister said.
The announcement comes shortly after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) extended the closure of schools and inter colleges in five more divisions – Sargodha, Rawalpindi, Dera Ghazi Khan, Bahawalpur, and Sahiwal.
Previously, the educational institutions have been closed in Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan and Gujranwala division in order to save students from the pollution, which causes various throat, eye and skin infections.
The capital city of Punjab province, Lahore, again ranked the most polluted city in the world as air quality remains hazardous with AQI reaching 744 on Tuesday.
Data available on Swiss air quality monitor IQAir’s website shows the concentration of harmful particulate matter (PM2.5) pollutants that cause the most damage to health, surged to 448, which is 89.6 times the WHO annual air quality guideline value.
More to follow…
