In brief
Classes for primary students in Lahore, Pakistan’s second-largest city, will be suspended for a week due to unprecedented air pollution levels recorded over the weekend.
Lahore's education authorities made the announcement on Sunday, stating that schools for students up to the fifth grade will be closed this week as the city grapples with drastically deteriorating air quality. The decision follows the city reporting a staggering Air Quality Index (AQI) exceeding 1,000, indicating hazardous conditions, according to IQAir data. To put this in perspective, an AQI above 301 is considered dangerous, and the levels of PM2.5 in the air were found to be nearly 30 times higher than the World Health Organization's safety guidelines. Environmental experts, including Ahmad Rafay Alam, an environmental lawyer and member of the Pakistan Climate Change Council, expressed alarm over the dire air quality, labeling the situation as “an apocalypse.” Recently, Lahore has frequently ranked as one of the world’s most polluted cities, coming in as the second most polluted after New Delhi, India, based on IQAir's latest data. The persistent pollution crisis affects the health and longevity of residents, with estimates suggesting that urban dwellers in Pakistan lose approximately two years of life expectancy due to poor air quality. Both the government and citizens are increasingly concerned about the long-term implications of these environmental conditions on public health and future generations.
