With the air pollution worsening, more schools in China have decided to install anti-smog domes to let students play and exercise outside despite periods of heavy smog.
But citizens have called on the government to provide more sustainable solutions for China's smog problem.
An air-filtered dome stadium was recently installed at the Yuxing campus of Huaxing Primary School in Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei Province. The dome, which measures 50 meters long and 20 meters wide, was specifically built so that students could hold athletic activities without having to worry about heavy smog.
But these things cost a small fortune. The construction of one anti-smog dome costs around 1 million.
Private and foreign schools can have these anti-smog domes built immediately, but for Chinese public schools, getting one might take a longer time as they still have to get permissions from several departments.
The Beijing-based MetaSpace Air Dome Corporation manufactures these domes which use filtration systems to keep the air inside free from pollution. The company has already built around 40 domes for schools in China and this number is expected to increase with the air quality index still at the severe pollution mark.
These anti-smog domes have increased in popularity a few weeks after a school in Linqi in the northern Henan Province made headlines for making its students take an exam in the playground despite the heavy smog. People were shocked at the images that showed children who were seated at their desks and were shrouded by a thick cloud of smog. This led to the dismissal of the school's principal, Feng Shijeng.
"As a parent in Beijing, I also feel powerless over heavy pollution," said Zhong Fan, vice-president of MetaSpace Air Dome Corporation. "But such anti-smog projects and protecting children's health should not only be promoted by the companies. Government should also be concerned about the next generation, even though it doesn't involve dome stadiums."
Meanwhile, some parents have expressed their concerns over the dome's safety and that the government should come up with more sustainable solutions to address the smog problem.
China issued its first-ever National Smog Red Alert this week. A total of 24 cities were on red alert for smog while an additional 21 were on orange alert.
With the recent "airpocalypse" in China, these anti-smog domes will not be enough. If the government is serious in solving the problem, it must provide sustainable and long-term solutions for the welfare of the current and future generations of Chinese citizens.