Air Pollution and Children: A Practical Guide for Parents and Schools

Why children are more vulnerable

Children's lungs and other body systems are still developing. They often spend more time playing outside and breathe more air relative to body size than adults. These factors can increase exposure during polluted periods.

Air pollution can irritate airways, aggravate asthma, contribute to respiratory symptoms and infections, and affect healthy lung development. Risk depends on pollutant, dose, age, health, and repeated exposure.

Symptoms adults should notice

Move a symptomatic child to cleaner air and follow the child's health plan. Seek urgent medical care for severe breathing difficulty, bluish lips, confusion, fainting, chest pain, or symptoms that do not settle.

• Coughing, wheezing, throat irritation, or chest tightness
• Unusual breathlessness or fatigue during normal activity
• Asthma symptoms or increased need for prescribed reliever medicine
• Eye irritation, headache, or reduced ability to participate

When to modify or cancel outdoor activity

Use the health message associated with the active AQI standard. As pollution rises, first reduce prolonged or intense activity for sensitive students. At higher categories, shorten or relocate activity for everyone. Cancellation is appropriate when a cleaner option is not available or official guidance requires it.

A short, light recess is different from a long endurance event. Duration and intensity should be written into the school's plan rather than treated as identical exposures.

Arrival, departure, play and sports

• Prevent vehicle idling at school gates
• Move queues and play areas away from traffic and dust
• Check conditions again before long sports sessions
• Schedule strenuous events during a forecast cleaner window
• Provide a lower-intensity or indoor option without penalizing students

Cleaner classrooms

Remove indoor sources such as smoking, incense, open burning, harsh sprays, and poorly vented combustion. Ventilate when outdoor air is cleaner and manage heat and infection risk at the same time. Correctly sized portable filtration can reduce particles when windows need to remain closed.

An indoor monitor can reveal trends and test whether a change helps, but it should be placed away from direct drafts and used with quality limitations in mind.

Supporting students with asthma

Maintain current emergency contacts and individual asthma action plans. Ensure trained adults can recognize worsening symptoms and that prescribed medication is accessible under school policy. Air quality is one trigger among several, so the child's clinical plan takes priority.

A school air-quality action plan checklist

• Named decision-maker and backup
• Trusted location, source, timestamp, and AQI standard
• Actions for each category and sensitive students
• Indoor location with lower particle levels
• Sports, transport, and field-trip procedures
• Family and staff message templates
• Review after each episode to improve the plan

Now act

Practical recommendations

• Assign one trained staff member and one backup to check air quality before school and outdoor events.
• Use a written category-based activity plan that includes sensitive students.
• Keep an up-to-date asthma action plan and access to prescribed medication.
• Move students away from idling vehicles, smoking, waste burning, dust, and generator exhaust.
• Improve classroom source control, ventilation timing, and filtration where feasible.
• Tell families what changed, why it changed, and when conditions will be reviewed again.