The Punjab government on Monday ordered the reopening of schools across the province, apart from Lahore and Multan divisions, from November 19 in light of “improved” air quality.

As smog blanketed Punjab, the provincial government on Nov 6 announced the closure of public and private educational institutions across 18 districts from Nov 7 to 17. The recent smog situation was declared a “calamity” in Punjab last month.

Schools across Punjab were last week announced to remain shut till Nov 24. However, Lahore’s Air Quality Index (AQI) ranking on Sunday showed a slight improvement as it dropped out of the “hazardous” category for the first time in 12 days, the index showed.

A notification issued by the Punjab government’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, said: “The ambient air quality has improved in most districts of Punjab, due to rain in upper parts of Punjab, change in wind direction and speed. Therefore, all the educational institutions, except Lahore and Multan Divisions, shall be opened with effect from Nov 19 (Tuesday) with physical presence of students/staff.”

It specified four restrictions to be followed by the schools, including all students and staff wearing face masks as well as not opening educational institutions before 8:45am.

It further said that there would be a “complete ban” on outdoor sports along with extracurricular activities and educational institutions would have to introduce staggered class-wise school closing timings to avoid traffic congestion.

The Punjab School Education Department instructed chief executive officers to ensure compliance with the above directions.

The EPA also ordered all schools to open in Rawalpindi division — Rawalpindi, Attock, Jhelum and Chakwal districts — from Tuesday with the physical presence of staff and students.

The EPA also provided recommendations on how to deal with the deteriorating air quality in a smog alert issued for Lahore today. It said the AQI for Lahore was recorded at 253 in the last 24 hours.

The EPA said the current improvement of air quality in the city was due to the north-western winds, reduction in crop burning and the administrative measures taken by the government to reduce smog. However, it cautioned that the AQI was still harmful to health.

The recommendations included wearing N-95 masks while going outside, avoiding outdoor activities and citizens to get their vehicle’s fitness checked so they don’t further contribute to smog.