Kolkata students wear anti-pollution facemasks as school uniform

Kolkata, Apr 24 (ANI): Hundreds of children here are now wearing anti-pollution facemasks as a mandatory kit of their regular school uniform.

The Apeejay School located on Park Street, which is one of most posh as well as polluted neighbourhoods of the City of Palaces has taken the initiative.

It aims towards protecting the students from exposing themselves to pollution as well as send out an effective message to the society and the concerned civic authorities on the need to safeguard the environment.

For instance, a student named Alimpan Banerjee said that children wearing the green facemasks sent out a strong message to the policy makers that ecological protection should be taken up on a war footing to ensure safety of future generations.

"There are a number of diseases which we are suffering and Kolkata being the city most prone to a number of diseases. We as a school has taken this initiative up to protest against increased levels of pollution and the apathy shown by the government in tackling the issue. We wear these masks to protect ourselves from the environment as well as send out a message to the decision takers about the environmental degradation," said Banerjee.

As Janardhan Ghosh, Project Coordinator of Apeejay School put it, this 'revolutionary' idea came from the students themselves!

"We thought that as a school wherein new thoughts emerge, specially these kinds of revolutionary thoughts come out from young children. So it was basically the children, who came up with this idea," said Ghosh.

He also noted that the feedback has been extremely positive. So much so, the parents of the students have been very encouraging and supportive of such a move mooted by the school.

No wonder, the Gen-X in Kolkata has realised the hazards of environmental pollution and initiated steps for each individual to protect himself.

Now, it's the duty of the policy makers in the government to reckon this novel mode and take remedial measures so that Park Street which once upon a time was one of the cleanest thoroughfares of Kolkata regains its past glory, right from Chowringhee crossing to Park Circus. By Ajitha Menon (ANI)