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Parents say they are prepared to pay for equipment in advance
Beijing plans to gradually install air purification devices in some kindergartens as well as elementary and middle schools to cope with the invasion of smog, Beijing's education regulator said on Thursday.
Some devices are already in use in pilot schools, and experts are collecting the data and tracking the effects before expanding the project citywide, according to the Beijing Municipal Education Commission.
In Dongcheng district, the authority chose nine schools for the pilot project, including six elementary schools, two middle schools and a kindergarten.
The district authority said the system will be installed directly in new schools in the future.
The announcement partly answers the urging of parents.
An appeal calling on Beijing's education officials to install ventilation systems during the coming winter vacation was widely shared online. The appeal suggests parents form commissions and pay the cost upfront while the education bureaus give the greenlight to install the systems and then reimburse parents once the budget is in place.
"Smog has become a pain for all parents in Beijing," said Jia Jingqi, the mother of a 3-year-old boy in Beijing's Dongcheng district. "Every smoggy day, only four to five kids are sent to the kindergarten, but for my family, we don't have a baby sitter or grandparents to help us look after my son. We have to send him to kindergarten. It's sad."
"We hope the government can consider the kids' health as a big issue. At present, installing the air purification system is the most practical way. It's not easy to leave Beijing to start a new life just because of the smog."
Some schools are already one step ahead. Pictures on the Tsinghua University High School website show that the density of PM10 and PM2.5 - tiny particles that can harm health - dropped by more than three-quarters to less than 50 micrograms per cubic meter, or the level considered "good", after the installation of a ventilation system.
The 240 devices, which were donated by a company, will be installed in 120 classrooms by March.
Although technically viable, the price is not small.
"It cost more than 40,000 yuan ($5,800) to build the whole set for one classroom," an official who donated devices to Tsinghua University High School said in an interview with Caixin Media.
