Air Quality Inspection Launched to Combat Pollution in Schools

By Yuzhou Hu

This article originally appeared on our sister website, Urban Family Shanghai.

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China's battle against poor indoor air quality continues with a new round of nationwide inspections commencing at newly-built schools and dormitories. Aimed at eliminating the latent danger in classrooms (especially formaldehyde,) this new inspection will ensure a safer environment for students, reports Xinhua Net.

The inspection was launched in the wake of several incidents across the country where an excessive level of formaldehyde was found. Students from Shenzhen, Xi'an and Zhengzhou suffered from dizziness, vomiting and nosebleeds after the new semester began this September.

The Office of Education Supervision Committee of the State Council released a notice immediately after the incidents, ordering all cities and provinces to carry out inspections in all the primary and middle schools which completed construction this year.

Image via Pexels

It was directed that a third-party institution should inspect each location. Once the results are available, the schools should inform parents and also advise the public via platforms such as school bulletins and WeChat.

If any inspection uncovers any problems, the schools must rectify these immediately before the classrooms and dormitories can be used again.

Although the nationwide inspections are currently in progress, schools are already feeling the consequences. Last week, a furniture firm in Anhui recalled approximately 1,200 students' desks which were detected to have an excessive amount of formaldehyde, reports Sina.

The schools are required to wrap up the inspections before November 30 and report the statistics to the Office of Education Supervision Committee.

[Cover image via Pexels]

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