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India is one of the most vulnerable countries due to air pollution and it kills 1.67 million people every year in India. Although the air pollution issue in the country is well known, there is a gap of knowledge between assessment of the syllabus in terms of the topic “Air Pollution” in the school syllabus. In the present work, various topics related to air pollution in school textbooks have been evaluated for class V-XII and air quality experts’ interview was conducted to identify the gap area in the syllabus. It was found that the present school syllabus does not adequately represent the present state of knowledge on air pollution. The syllabus highlighted the air pollution issues in the late 90s where gaseous pollutants and acid rain were the primary concern. Important issues in the last two decades such as Air Quality Index (AQI), Particulate Matter (PM), the inequity in pollution exposures, occupational health hazards, and adaptation procedures are either not included or described very briefly. Overall, the syllabus on air pollution is very much information-oriented and is not concept-oriented. The recommendations from the experts were included in the study which clearly calls for a substantial modification of the syllabus.

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