Young students suffer serious health problems from pollution
http://www.thanhniennews.com/features/?catid=10&newsid=12762
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A primary school in Vietnam’s central Quang Ngai province has been seriously polluted by nearby brick kilns, affecting the health of its students and sparking protests from parents.
Four hundred students at the Bo De 2 primary school in Mo Duc commune have been inhaling for the last two years a dangerous volume of dust emitted from 60 old-fashioned brick kilns in the neighborhood. Several have been diagnosed with pneumonia and acute respiratory problems.
Up to eight children in each class reportedly have pneumonia while every day several have to be taken to hospital for treatment, the school’s principal, Pham Ngoc Cong, told Thanh Nien.
“Students and teachers have been wearing masks in class for the last two years,” a teacher moaned. “It is uncomfortable and badly affects the quality of learning and teaching.”
The school was just a stone’s throw from a road used constantly by vans to carry clay to the kilns and classes were disrupted by noise and dust whenever one went by, she added.
Cong said the number of students was shrinking with anxious parents wanting to move their children to other schools though Bo De 2 was acknowledged to be of national standard.
In fact, hundreds of parents had thronged the school in the last few days for the purpose, he said.
The school has sought the authorities’ intervention but no help has been forthcoming yet.
Reported by Thai Anh, Hoang Thuyen – Translated by Ngoc Hanh
http://www.thanhniennews.com/features/?catid=10&newsid=12762
<!-- / icon and title --><!-- message -->
A primary school in Vietnam’s central Quang Ngai province has been seriously polluted by nearby brick kilns, affecting the health of its students and sparking protests from parents.
Four hundred students at the Bo De 2 primary school in Mo Duc commune have been inhaling for the last two years a dangerous volume of dust emitted from 60 old-fashioned brick kilns in the neighborhood. Several have been diagnosed with pneumonia and acute respiratory problems.
Up to eight children in each class reportedly have pneumonia while every day several have to be taken to hospital for treatment, the school’s principal, Pham Ngoc Cong, told Thanh Nien.
“Students and teachers have been wearing masks in class for the last two years,” a teacher moaned. “It is uncomfortable and badly affects the quality of learning and teaching.”
The school was just a stone’s throw from a road used constantly by vans to carry clay to the kilns and classes were disrupted by noise and dust whenever one went by, she added.
Cong said the number of students was shrinking with anxious parents wanting to move their children to other schools though Bo De 2 was acknowledged to be of national standard.
In fact, hundreds of parents had thronged the school in the last few days for the purpose, he said.
The school has sought the authorities’ intervention but no help has been forthcoming yet.
Reported by Thai Anh, Hoang Thuyen – Translated by Ngoc Hanh