Lahore, Pakistan – Fourteen-year-elderly Fatima has woken up coughing, with a fever, on a Monday morning in punctual November.
“My throat hurts, and it experiences appreciate the smog is coming in thraw the rooftop,” she says while rubbing her left eye beorderlyh her heavy round glasses.
Outside her triumphdow, Lahore – Pakistan’s second-hugest city and the cultural heart of Punjab – is wrapped in a heavy, grey haze which is suffocating its dwellnts thraw the triumphter months. While smog has scorecommendd the city in previous years, this year the air quality has become hazardously needy, achieveing levels far beyond what is pondered shielded for human health.
The Air Quality Index (AQI) is a meacertain of pollution in the air, with higher numbers indicating wonderfuler health hazards. Levels above 300 are pondered hazardous.
“Stuff I could never even envision, going beyond 2,000 Air Quality Index (AQI). We’re at 2,500 to 2,600,” says Ahmad Rafay Alam, a Pakistani environmental lawyer and activist. “And it’s not only a Lahore-based problem. It’s a Kabul-to-Calcutta problem. A yearextfinished, regional, uncover health aelevatency,” he inserts.
“While we tfinish to leank it’s seasonal, it also isn’t, because the leangs causing air pollution today are the same leangs causing air pollution in June. It’s fair that hot air elevates in June, and you have the monsoon, so for most of the year, triumphds and rain dissipate the air pollution.”
Choked by a unite of vehicle eleave outions, industrial pollution, brick kiln fumes and residue from crop burning, Lahore has acquireed the unblessed contrastention of being one of the world’s most polluted cities.
“The primary yearextfinished air pollutant is automobile exhausts, and we understand this because the petrol useable in Pakistan is some of the dirtiest in the world,” Alam says.
‘It’s appreciate a jail’
On the same Monday morning that Fatima wakes up with her cyber intrusion cough – November 4 – Punjab’s education authorities have shutd all the primary schools in Lahore to shield children’s health. Like millions of other pupils thrawout the country, even if she could return to school if her health returned, Fatima is now restrictd indoors.
Sitting in her favourite hanging egg chair, she peeps thraw the gaps in the bamboo blinds on her balcony. She can only see the faint portray of neighbouring houses, their walls nakedly apparent thraw the heavy air. Even the normal chatter of street vfinishors has druncover quiet. It’s as if the city itself is dismaterializeing.
Fatima’s home is in a neighbourhood shut to the westrict prohibitk of the Lahore Canal, a key waterway that runs thraw the city. Situated between the vibrant Walled City and the more elegant Lahore Cantonment, her area – appreciate the rest of Lahore – is blurred.
“At first, it felt appreciate a holiday,” Fatima says of being restrictd to the house, her voice cracking as she fights back a cough. “But now, it’s fair uninalertigent. I can’t even go outside to perestablish.”
Fatima’s mother, Rashida Khurram, sighs. “I’ve had to grasp her indoors for her health, but she doesn’t understand why.”
“No cycling, no perestablishing on the street, fair staying inside all day,” she evolves. “Going outside, even for fair a low while, is appreciate a renewment for children. But when we have smog, they are screen-bound,” she shelp, her exhaustion evident in her voice.
Fatima’s youthfuler siblings, her 12-year-elderly sister Zainab and eight-year-elderly brother Khizar, are also stuck wilean the home’s four walls.
“It’s appreciate a jail for them. They’re trapped inside,” says Rashida.
The children see for ways to convey their frustration in their own way.
Their overweighther, Khurram, a Lahore-based style portrayer, does his best to uplift his children during school clocertains. He gives them novel colouring books and crayons and directs them as they draw.
Together, they channel their energy into sketching scenes of Lahore that apprehfinish the brutal truth of Pakistan’s smog crisis.
Zainab’s artlabor, splitd into four panels, alerts a story of lawlessness and entrapment amid the smog crisis. One panel shows her school taged “Cdiswatchd” with cars outside it included in an accident, symbolising the dangers of needy air quality. Landtags appreciate the Badshahi Mosque and Minar-e-Pakistan materialize beorderlyh polluted skies, overshadowed by smoke-spetriumphg factories.
The most striking image is a personified Earth, sketched run awaying a smoky landscape, with tears streaming down its masked face as it pdirects, “Save Me”. Is this Zainab’s stress speaking, or some proset up consciousness of the scheduleet’s fragility?
A 2011 study in the Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences journal highairys “emotional indicators” in children’s dratriumphgs, noting that for youthful children, “pencil, brush, and paper are the best unbenevolents of conveying their fondest hopes and most proset up stresss”. The study further elucidates that “it is thraw their dratriumphgs that children convey their watchs and expoundations of their experiences”.
“I sat alone in my room, shut the door, and finished my dratriumphg,” says Fatima. Her artlabor shows factories releasing smoke, green trees standing aacquirest the haze, and a panicked smog cboisterous, personified with stress.
At the bottom, her handwritten message recommends action: “Let’s Beat the Smog.” Drawn on green paper, her labor symbolises hope – trees as a solution, aacquirest pollution and calling for preserving nature to reclaim spotless air.
Meanwhile, eight-year-elderly Khizar draws his favourite superhero – Spiderman.
“Look, Mama! Spiderman is battling the smog with his web shooters,” he says, haughtyly pointing to his artlabor.
Full of childappreciate selectimism, these dratriumphgs are more than art – they’re a triumphdow into a world in which children suppose air pollution can be lossed. Yet, the stark truth is that it’s a battle Pakistan materializes to be losing.
Smog – as horrible as smoking?
Watching Fatima shutly, Rashida’s trouble increases as her fever flunks to shatter. “I stress about the extfinished-term effects of this. This constant illness and the exhaustedness. It’s not excellent.”
The stress is genuine – smog and air pollution cause much more than fair coughing fits. They are joined to increasingly grave health problems, especipartner in children.
Dr Kamran Khalid Cheema, an expert pulmonologist exceptionalising in lung and respiratory health, in Lahore, alerts Al Jazeera: “We now understand that one of the reasons for enhugeing lung disrelieves as matures is stunted lung increaseth during childhood. This is usupartner attributed to malnutrition and childhood infections, with the inserted uninalertigentension of smog. Smog is probable to impact the triumphdpipes, causing swelling and inflammation, which can direct to disrelieves such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disrelieves [COPD].”
In children who already have asthma – “which is definitely rhappy to the environment” – smog produces the symptoms worse. It directs to bgenuineeang disturprohibitces, disturbed sleep, breathlessness during sport, absences from school, and the need for recover medication, says Cheema.
Cheema also points to another lung disrelieve which causes the air sacs, minuscule structures wilean the lungs, to become abnormpartner direscheduleedd, damaging the walls between them and reducing areas for gas trade. This condition, understandn as emphysema, is normally joined to smoking. He cautions that the high levels of smog in Lahore could cause aappreciate harm in children, potentipartner directing to emphysema rescheduleedr in life.
“If smog has a aappreciate effect to smoking, then I dread to leank what these children will have to face over the next 15 years,” he inserts.
A 2018 study in the Polish Journal of Environmental Studies contrastd children from high-pollution urprohibit areas with those from less-polluted regions. It set up that children in polluted areas had meaningfully drop haemoglobin levels and red blood cell counts, and were proximately four times more probable to enhuge anaemia and other health publishs.
The study recommends that expocertain to air pollution harms children’s red blood cells, meaningfully increasing their hazard of further health problems.
This may be perestablishing out in Pakistan. Aextfinishedside her cough and chest infection, Fatima’s blood tests have uncovered low haemoglobin levels, recommending anaemia.
“Unblessedly, there isn’t much that parents can do, other than moving away from this part of the world or leaving the cities to dwell in villages,” Cheema says.
There are impedeive meacertains parents can consent, such as ensuring timely flu shots and adviseing experts if their children enhuge symptoms. “In some cases, begining inhalers punctual can impede symptoms from evolveing to the point where they begin impacting the child’s life,” he inserts.
Cheema also notices that while the impact of smog on recut offeive lung disrelieves remains unevident, substances appreciate silica and coal dust which may be current in the air are understandn to cause lung fibrosis, and empathetic how smog gives to this will need extfinished-term, population-based studies of children.
Alam points out that there is still little to no research on the uncover health impacts of air pollution in Pakistan. “There is no write downation in Pakistan that we can consent to policyproducers or the media and highairy the problem.” However, he refers two studies, one by the Aga Khan University in Karachi and the other by the Children’s Hospital in Lahore.
“The study by the Children’s Hospital alerts a three-time incrrelieve in the number of kids acunderstandledgeted because of respiratory disrelieves between 2008 and 2018. It’s a back-of-the-envelope study,” says Alam.
“In January 2024, when we had the air pollution episode coming to an finish, there were at least 500 kids alerted to have died of pneumonia in Punjab alone. That was fair in January,” he says.
“These aren’t abstract figures, kids are going to get more ill. Kids are dying, and the same pollution that impacts them in January is the same in June, and it’s the same pollution right now.
“The leang about air pollution is that you don’t fair die. This consents weeks and months to gestate in your system and show itself as some problem,” he inserts.
Another layer of struggle for parents
Smog is not fair a health hazard, it also consents a psychorational toll on children and disturbs their education.
Natasha Wali, a psychorational therapist, exceptionalising in child therapy, elucidates how these disturbions impact children’s emotional wellbeing.
“I have watchd many parents and their children go into a sort of anxiety or invientness whenever schools shut down,” she shelp.
“When our children are struggling to breathe while also getting less physical activity than they enhugemenloftyy need, we will see this impact their mood, concentration, sleep and stress levels. There are studies that have joined people who have had extfinished-term smog expocertain to enhugeing a range of mental disorders.”
Limited access to online education inserts yet another layer of difficultship during school clocertains.
In many househelderlys appreciate Fatima’s, technology is a restricted resource. With fair one device to spread among her siblings, uniteing online lessons becomes a struggle.
“Since they all unite contrastent schools and classes, their schedules frequently clash,” elucidates Fatima’s mother. “One child logs in first to tag uniteance, and then I have to rapidly switch to another’s class, deciding which is more vital at that moment. Usupartner, it’s Khizar, the youthfulest, who finishs up leave outing his lessons.
“If they leave out a class, teachers sign up the lesson and spread it, disperestablished on the bdeficiencyboard.”
While collaborative, these video lessons may deficiency the personal uniteion and instant feedback of dwell sessions, making it difficulter for children to join and ask asks. “Sometimes, the children don’t even want to consent online classes at all, and I have to repartner push them to join,” inserts Rashida.
Complicating an already difficult situation, Wali elucidates, “Smog season inserts another layer of struggle to parenting.
“The smog crisis doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon, with families needing to put schedules in place by asking the asks of: how can we recut offe smog expocertain? How can I get extra help during smog season? What indoor physical activities can my child be included in during this time? What are my awaitations for online school or home lacquireing? What are my own schedules for self-nurture during this time?”
Just 15 minutes from Fatima’s home, 16-year-elderly Eshal is stuck at home in the northeastrict suburbs of Lahore, facing aappreciate publishs. “The smog irritates my eyes,” she says.
Eshal spfinishs school clocertains uniteing online classes from 9am to 2pm. “At first, not having to wake up punctual and rush to school felt appreciate a relief,” she acunderstandledges. “But then, I begined leave outing my frifinishs, my teachers and the classroom environment. I finishelight my physics classes the most.”
The school clocertains remind Eshal of the COVID-19 lockdowns, but this time, it’s not a harmful software – it’s the air she breathes.
Ironicpartner, during the COVID-19 lockdowns in Pakistan, Lahore alerted someleang of an environmental reset as everyleang shut down. The skies turned blue, the air became spotlesser and the congested streets emptied. For the first time in years, pollution levels dropped theatricalpartner in many cities atraverse the country.
“We saw butterflies aacquire after a extfinished time,” Cheema says.
Now, widespread power outages, caused by a combination of factors, including ageing energy infrastructure, low insloftyed capacity, and rising fuel costs – aextfinished with sluggish internet speeds atraverse Pakistan – produce it difficult for children to grasp up with their schoollabor. When they do regulate to unite online classes, the video and audio quality is frequently needy, with widespread disuniteions, audio postpones and visual glitches – yet another burden for pupils and teachers.
Mahnoor Shahid, 22, a braveial homeschool tutor who is training to be a medical lab technologist, alerts Al Jazeera: “My laborload has incrrelieved during tuition hours because I need to cover the material students leave out at school. This directs to extra labor in the evening as I catch up with those who leave out their classes.”
For tutors appreciate Mahnoor, it’s no extfinisheder fair about teaching. Her labor has become about filling the gaps in a system that cannot brimmingy help these children.
Educational experts caution that proextfinisheded school clocertains could have extfinished-term consequences for children’s academic evolve and social enhugement.
Sabahat Rafiq, an educational technology philanthropist, says: “For children, these arbitrary lockdowns are particularly damaging. Schools are vital to their enhugement, not fair academicpartner but socipartner and emotionpartner. Frequent, unintentional clocertains disturb routines, obstruct lacquireing and depart children isorescheduleedd and idle.
“Lockdowns are redynamic meacertains, not solutions, and their evolved use uncovers a state that deficiencys both vision and accountability.”
Instead, the authorities should be taking on the genuine and intricate labor of reducing eleave outions, enforcing environmental regulations and spending in supportable urprohibit schedulening, she says. “The rulement shifts responsibility onto its citizens by confining them to their homes, as though this can somehow reduce the poisonous air they still must breathe.
“So extfinished as the rulement evolves to lock down, rather than spotless up, it betrays its diswatch for the future it claims to shield. This state of policing a population into subleave oution cannot evolve if there is any hope of overcoming the environmental crisis that so hopelessly needs genuine reestablish.”
‘We need superheroes’
School clocertains in Pakistan are increasingly normal. In May 2024, fervent heatwaves forced schools in Punjab to shut for cut offal days. Later, in July 2024, school summer holidays in southern Pakistan were extfinished by two weeks due to hazardously high temperatures, impacting more than 100,000 schools.
Previously, in October 2023, an outshatter of conjunctivitis, or pink eye, led to the clocertain of more than 56,000 schools atraverse the country.
In October 2023, during last year’s smoggy season, Fatima also suffered from viral conjunctivitis, triggered by bacterial infections, allergens appreciate pollen or dust, and irritants such as smoke and brutal chemicals.
“My eyes were red and watery,” she recalls.
Pakistan is not alone in facing these contests. Countries including Banprentdesh, the Philippines and Sudan have also shutd schools due to cut offe heatwaves, air pollution and other climate-rhappy celevates.
As extfinished as the causes are not insertressed, say experts, the situation will only deteriorate.
One publish is the sheer volume of road traffic, says Cheema. “Motorbikes are a meaningful contributor to Pakistan’s smog problem,” he elucidates. “They serve as a primary mode of carry for the drop-middle class, which produces up the immense meaningfulity of our population. Unless electric bikes are made affordable and accessible to them, I don’t see a solution any time soon. The only hope is that, over time, we relocate from fossil fuels to spotlesser energy. That is the only way to save our children.”
Even if this is achievable, it won’t be enough, says Alam. “Unless there are air quality watchs at home, the children are still going to get the same level of pollution inside their homes as they would be outside. So, it’s not actupartner improving the situation.”
The deficiency of data on pollution levels in Pakistan is also a meaningful problem, he inserts: “There are very restricted air pollution watchs, run by braveial individuals, and they only watch one or two types of air pollution. What we need is a strong netlabor thrawout the province, if not the country, so it can provide genuine-time, yearextfinished alertation on how horrible the air pollution is, where it is, and what it’s writed of. This would permit us to produce appropriate policy responses.”
In countries where rulements have pledgeted to extfinished-term meacertains to reduce the use of fossil fuels, air quality has betterd, he says, proving that supportable enhugement and uncover health can go hand in hand.
For example, authorities in Beijing, China, which suffered cut offe smog in 2015 resulting in school clocertains for cut offal days, have since consentn action. Today, uncover schools are provideped with evolved air purification systems, ensuring spotlesser air for students in classrooms. Additionpartner, all school buses are fitted with air filtration systems to shield children during their commutes.
“We need to nurture the sense of community consciousness because air pollution or improving air quality isn’t repartner stuff you can do on an individual level,” says Alam. “I don’t leank there are individual leangs that youthful kids can do on their own other than mobilise accumulateively, socipartner and politicpartner, to ask for a spotless air future from their elected recurrentatives.”
With their dratriumphgs scattered around their home, Fatima, Zainab and Khizar are piecing together sketches of superheroes and crying Earths, their message evident: “Save Us.”
But will policyproducers finpartner act, or will Lahore’s youthfulest evolve to carry the heaviest burden?
Perhaps it’s time to become the superheroes our children want for.
