Children are specially vulnerable and susceptible to environmental threats or hazards at early developmental stage of life. Reports have shown that children in developing countries are thirteen times more likely to die before they reach their fifth birthday than their counterparts in developed countries. While there are many biological  and environmental factors associated with this high toll, lack of clean water and sanitation, as well as environmental-related diseases such as malaria, dengue fever and toxin swallowing are the most common. The danger of plastic bags suffocation, lead and asbestos poisoning, eating molded food, flies infestation, skin diseases, and poor quality of building material and furniture used in schools, burning rubbish near school places which emit carbon mono-oxide fumes are a few that need mentioning as hazardous to children’s life.

In many developing countries particularly in the rural environment, collecting water, gathering firewood, tending crops, looking after young siblings, cooking meals and taking care of the household chores take up large amounts of time and energy. Children are affected by media such as water, air, food, objects or soil in their daily activities or circumstances, including eating, drinking, working and playing.

Children  require a great deal of care, love and stimulation from parents, families, care givers and school as well as the best and safest of environments to survive and develop to their full potential simply because they are young. We as adults have the moral responsibility to protect them from any danger whether at home or at the school. It is the environment that we create which will influence children at all stages of their lives, before birth in their homes, and later in schools and communities. Therefore, it becomes pertinent to understand that as children develop and grow, they interact with and explore a world that can offer either an array of life-enhancing discoveries and opportunities or a series of perils that can cause diseases and suffering. Medical and educational research has shown that the development of intelligence, personality and social behavior occurs most rapidly in humans during their first three to four years. It is estimated that half of all intellectual development potential is established by age four. According to recent research, brain development is much more vulnerable to environmental influence than was previously suspected, and the influence of early environmental quality on brain development is long lasting. Psychosocial and cognitive development begins at birth and parents are the children’s earliest teachers. Therefore, strengthening the ability of the mother and all family members to care for and stimulate their children and encourage them to learn can set the stage for adult success. However, the ability to care for children is greatly influenced by the physical environment such as the school and its teachers.

Children are curious and learn by exploring their world. They are, therefore, in close contact with their environment. Infants tend to explore their world by putting their hands and objects in their mouths and are at risk from bacteria or virus and pollutants on these surfaces. Moreover, young children are small; they play; slip, slide and crawl close to the ground, where they can easily be exposed to dust and chemical particles that accumulate on floors and soil. Children are especially vulnerable to environmental hazards. They eat more food, drink more liquids, and breathe more air than adults. Children are in a critical period of development when toxic exposures can have profound negative effects, and their exploratory behavior often places them in direct contact with materials that adults would avoid.

More than 1.4 billion children from age 5 to 14 years – approximately 87 per cent of all children – live in developing countries, where many of the biggest environmental challenges exist. Several potential environmental risks are particularly associated with children in this age period. Many school going children walk to school hence, injuries (usually crossing roads, falling and drowning in man-made pools and canals) are now the number one killer of children aged five to 14 years in developing countries. Other environmental factors such as exposed cooking set-ups, dangerous tools and equipment, protruding rusted iron nails and bars that lead to Tetanus, a child killer, besides, open sewers, heavy traffic, dangerous construction or electrical sites and hazardous chemicals pose threats. Many children multi-task i.e. attend school as well as on some days are required to do other tasks depending on the contextual need of the family. Extreme poverty often forces children to work to help their families to survive. Hence, a child’s health and growth may also be affected when he or she engages in wage-earning work or domestic chores unsuitable for his or her age and ability, such as working long hours in a field, carrying heavy loads, and walking long distances for fuel wood or water. To exacerbate the situation further, with the limited budget allocated for education, schools are not purpose built as per universal standards, and are congested, dusty, inadequately ventilated and lighted and in some instances located near a garbage dump or open sewerage.

Environmental hazards in our schools are increasingly becoming a concern. In developing countries like Pakistan usually schools are surrounded by places where there is not a proper system of disposing waste which is breeding place for germs. Some of the schools have been constructed in the industrial zones, factories, mills and contaminated lands. Others are located in severely cold places where biome fuels, including wood, animal dengue or crop residues that give out carbon, carbon monoxide and where other indoor pollutants are burnt causing Tuberculosis.

Human Hazards
Environment hazards are also human executed. Harsh punishments rendered on young children and older students; whipping, fatal injuries causing punctures, broken or complete loss of body parts, burns, eye and hearing impairment, respiratory and gastro-intestinal illnesses, fever and headaches from excessive heat in the schools, can all be fatal for children. Such hazards may lead to physical and mental disabilities, and without the access to basic health, and other social services, a denial of their rights increases their vulnerability to environmental risks and hazards.

Deterrent Plastic Bags
Plastic bags have become an indispensable part of our life because of their lightweight, flexibility and low cost. They are used for packing the food, shopping, delivering food and garbage packing etc. About 10 million plastic bags are thrown away every day as waste. Because of the slow process of degeneration these bags turn into pieces of plastic chunks or dust which is not biogradable as their molecular structure is too large for micro-organisms to swallow. This characteristic of plastic causes serious environmental and health problems. Since the plastic bags are picked up from the garbage and recycled, they tend to retain a lot of bacteria which are difficult to destroy, which in turn contaminates the food it will hold which children carry to school in or buy, causing ill health. Besides, burning of plastic in temperatures less than 800 degrees Celsius in an open space creates noxious fumes such as hydrogen cyanide and other poisonous gases which cause air pollution resulting in skin, and respiratory problems and also certain kinds of cancer.

Unhygienic food
In suburban and rural areas and quite often in big cities, food infested with flies, stale or cooked in low quality oils is sold outside schools. Such foods can be potentially life threatening if eaten on a regular basis. Some school canteens in urban areas offer junk food for children instead of encouraging children to eat well nourished foods prepared at home. It is important to teach children the importance of washing hands before eating food or after using the toilet and also the adverse effects of consuming unhealthy and unhygienic foods.

Unsafe drinking water
Unsafe drinking water remains a major environmental concern at school. Children drinking water from earthen matkas, often unwashed, results in harmful poisonous bacteria growing inside. Moreover, it becomes a breeding ground for mosquitoes, who lay their larvae in cool and still water. One is familiar with the Dengue fever that became rampant in the past and is yet a cause of concern. Tap water carries pollutants and can cause high risk diseases such as Cholera and Typhoid. In certain areas the water table is so low that sewerage containing human and animal waste seeps into the water contaminating it thereby causing epidemics and other stomach related diseases.

Harmful Asbestos Use
Many local and national schools in Pakistan have asbestos roofs and pipes. The United States Environmental Protection Agency estimates that there are asbestos containing materials in most nations; approximately 107,000 primary and secondary schools. It confirms that asbestos is commonly used in school buildings as insulations and in building material, ceiling tiles, floor, and cement pipe. Asbestos fibers can cause serious health problems especially in occupational settings. If inhaled these materials disturb the normal functioning of lungs, can cause lung cancer, cancer of chest and abdominal lining. Some of the schools in the west have been declared as “building sickness” where occupants usually complain of headache, nausea and eye, nose and throat irritation. Investigations have shown that the problem is not traceable to a single source or single contaminant but rather to multiple problems in the design, construction, operation or maintenance of the school building. Unfortunately Pakistan does not have any safety checking measure for educational setting and therefore this danger, that looms large in children’s lives, goes unattended.

Air Pollution
Children in school are especially susceptible to air pollution. The same concentration of pollution will result in a higher body burden for children than adults because children breathe a greater volume of air relative to their body weight. For this and other reasons air quality in schools is of particular concern. Indoor air is being polluted in our schools due to the usage of chemicals, sources of contaminants, failure of quality ventilation system, air brought in to the building which is contaminated  from outdoor sources, and usage of microbial contaminants which proliferate in humid and wet environments.
In developed countries asthma and childhood cancers are now major concerns. Acute leukemia is the most common type of cancer found in children, and its incidence appears to be rising in some developed countries. While the causes remain unclear, certain toxic substances in the air and radiation in the environment are believed to be factors in the cell changes that lead to cancer. Among the environmental factors that may play a role are lead smoke from vehicles, dust, radon, asbestos, ultraviolet light radiation, hazardous waste, chemical poisoning and some pesticides. Therefore, it is crucial that parental and school care and supervision be given for the safe and healthy development of young children.

Soil Pollutants
Many schools especially in the rural areas have kutcha (unpaved or not cemented) grounds. Children are often found playing bare-foot in soils, which have intestinal worms, or eating raw vegetables from farmlands sprayed with pesticides. These are common health hazards faced by school age children in developing countries. Such children commonly carry up to 1,000 hookworms, roundworms and whipworms at a time, which can cause anemia and other debilitating conditions. These illnesses can result in impaired learning, poor school performance and absenteeism from school.