Nearly 200 Bangkok schools close due to air pollution
What's the story
Nearly 200 schools in Bangkok, Thailand, were forced to shut down on Thursday amid severe air pollution.
The city's authorities have advised residents to work from home and imposed restrictions on heavy vehicles.
The Thai capital is battling seasonal air pollution, exacerbated by colder winter air, crop stubble burning, and vehicle emissions.
Pollution ranking
Bangkok ranks 6th in global air pollution
On Thursday morning, IQAir noted that Bangkok was the sixth most polluted major city in the world.
The PM2.5 pollutant levels had hit a staggering 122 micrograms per cubic meter, far exceeding the World Health Organization's recommended limit of 15 micrograms for a 24-hour average.
Earlier this week, authorities had allowed schools in areas with high PM2.5 levels to shut down if needed.
Educational disruption
School closures impact thousands of students
By Thursday morning, 194 of 437 schools under the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority (BMA) had shut down, impacting thousands of students.
This is the largest closure since 2020 when all BMA schools were shut due to pollution. However, data on schools not under BMA authority was unavailable, according to AFP.
"School closures should be a last resort...There really needs to be a wake-up call on the need to invest in the education system," Severine Leonardi, UNICEF Thailand deputy representativeshe told AFP.
Pollution measures
Remote work and vehicle restrictions implemented
In a bid to tackle the pollution crisis, authorities had urged people to work from home earlier this week.
However, only 100,000 people signed up for the voluntary scheme in the city of roughly 10 million residents.
Officials have also banned six-wheel trucks in parts of Bangkok until late Friday and introduced incentives to curb crop stubble burning. They are testing methods like spraying cold water or dry ice into the smog.