Air purifiers and ultraviolet light are being installed inside schools in a scheme aimed at tackling Covid in confined spaces.
The trial is designed to assess how the technology could mitigate the transmission of coronavirus and other respiratory diseases in schools.
Thirty primary schools in Bradford are taking part in the Government-funded research scheme, with the possibility it could be scaled up to run across the country.
Schools Minister Nick Gibb said the Government was awaiting the results of the pilot, as he said ventilation was a "key part of the guidance we've provided to schools about how to keep schools safe".
He told the BBC: "Ventilation, right from the beginning, was an important part of that process and remains actually part of our guidance to schools.
"We are looking at air purifiers - that's what the pilot in Bradford is about. We are also looking at CO2 monitors to whether that's an effective way of helping schools to monitor the quality of the air."
With results not due before the end of the year if successful the pilot study could pave the way for a countrywide rollout of the technology in 2022.
The i newspaper reports that the study is being backed with £1.8 million of funding from the DHSC.
It is being conducted by the Centre for Applied Education Research – a collaboration involving the universities of Leeds, Bradford and York, Bradford Council and the Department for Education.
The randomised trial will consist of a third of schools equipped with high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters, a third with UV purifiers and a third without any equipment to serve as a control group.
In the schools with devices, the kit will be placed in rooms that staff or children spend a lot of time inside.
Professor Mark Mon-Williams of the University of Leeds, who is leading the project, said the scheme would examine the “the potential for putting different devices in schools that could basically make them Covid secure, which is obviously a massive prize”.
He said: “[Schools] are weird shapes, they’ve got notice boards and chairs and children and teachers in them.
“That’s the bit that needs to be properly evaluated. When you start chucking all these bits into a room, do these systems still work?”
The collection of data is set to start in September and will run for the entire school year.
He added: “By Christmas we will at least be able to see an impact on air quality, we’ll know then exactly what the barriers are to putting these things in, and hopefully we’ll just have the first indications of what’s happening across the different schools in terms of absence.”
Professor Mon-Williams said the research would find if “there’s an evidence base to support scaling this up”. If the technologies were rolled out nationwide it would involve “massive investment”, he said.
Some businesses already use UV light and air purifiers to help combat the spread of coronavirus.
Transport for London installed more than 200 UV light sanitising devices on escalator handrails across the London Underground in October after a successful six week trial.
Several clubs and gig venues also installed the devices ahead of reopening their doors on July 19.
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