Surrounded by factories, students wear masks in class  

温州一中学周边遍布企业 师生难忍臭气戴口罩上课

(ECNS) – An online post Tuesday showed pictures of a class of students and their teacher in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, wearing masks to protect themselves from the smell of factories surrounding the school, the Qianjiang Evening News reported.

A packaging factory 600 meters from the school has since been forced to halt production because of pollution.

Located in Wenzhou's Pingyang county, Pingyang Middle School is surrounded by 31 enterprises, including 28 plastic factories.

The school has more than 2,600 students, most of whom are boarders.

A female student in the class said their teacher surnamed Wang distributed the masks. "He did it for the sake of our health," she added.

The teacher said he gave out the masks to students by instinct. "I didn't expect to draw so much attention."

According to the headmaster of the school named Zhang, local authorities have taken measures to address pollution problems around the school since January, saying "Compared to last semester, the environment has significantly improved."

Some students confirmed Zhang's statement, but said that air quality had deteriorated recently.

A director at the local environmental protection department said they had received reports of pollution over a week ago, and that an "investigation has been underway."

An official with the local government said moving factories out of the school area has been on the agenda, and that "the mask incident will accelerate the speed of removal."