Smog And Sick Kids: Thai Pupils Endure Air Pollution

Bangkok, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Mar, 2024) Hundreds of Thai children strain to sing the national anthem, reedy voices and fragile lungs competing against eight lanes of belching traffic next to their school's open atrium in central Bangkok.

Pupils at Suan Lumphini School assemble each morning under a coloured flag indicating the day's air quality -- red for worst, yellow for second worst, blue for best.

Thailand registers dire air pollution levels annually -- its cities topping the world's most polluted for days last year -- and children face the greatest risk of long-term damage to their respiratory systems.

Lalipthat Prakham, who works as a maid, said it has already made her eight-year-old daughter sick.

"I always try to make her wear a mask. I tell her to keep the mask on at all times and to avoid going outside," she told AFP while waiting for her child outside Suan Lumphini.

Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has promised to tackle the issue, with his cabinet in January approving a bill aimed at tackling dangerous levels of PM2.5 -- particles so tiny they can enter the bloodstream.

But in the meantime, residents must endure.

Nanthnan Hajiub said his 11-year-old son has developed a sporadic cough.

"I'm worried about the pollution, and the effect it is having on his respiratory system," the 45-year-old business owner said.

"I want the people in charge to take better care of the situation."

Bangkok's elite private international schools enjoy air purifiers and filtration systems in classrooms, but public establishments like Suan Lumphini must do without them.

The school is now part of a pollution study by Chulalongkorn University which has fitted out a single classroom with a purifying airconditioning unit, known as a "clean room".

The programme -- one of four rolled out at schools in highly polluted areas -- monitors the air and filters some of the harmful microscopic particles.

School head Suphatpong Anuchitsopapan is concerned that not enough is being done to address the issue, saying "pollution makes students weaker".