Latest analysis has discovered pupils at almost 8,000 schools across the UK are learning in environments where air pollution is higher than global health limits.
The pollutant PM2.5 can enter the bloodstream, lodge in lungs and other organs, and has been identified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as the most serious air pollutant for human health.
The organisation has an annual average limit for PM2.5 of 10 micrograms/m3, while the UK legal limit is 25 micrograms/m3.
A study by charity Global Action Plan (Gap) combined data from air quality company EarthSense in 2019 with the locations of schools in England, Scotland and Wales.
It found almost 8,000 schools in locations above the WHO limit, with the highest number of polluted institutions in London and the South East.
There were also nearly 300 such schools in Manchester postcodes M1 to M9 and in Portsmouth postcodes PO1 to PO9, while there were also more than 200 affected schools in the first nine Leicester and Ipswich postcodes, a national newspaper reported.
There have been calls for tougher national limits for particulate matter in line with WHO guidelines - including a demand from the coroner in the inquest of nine-year-old Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, who died from an asthma attack after exposure to toxic air.
Air pollution contributes to tens of thousands of early deaths a year in the UK.
The Government has said it is “considering” the WHO guidelines for PM2.5, with New Scientist reporting on Wednesday the international health organisation’s limit may be lowered in September.
