Abstract

Air pollution has been a serious environmental problem that troubles many developing countries in Southeast Asia for the last decades. This study was conducted to evaluate the level of perception of senior high-school students about air quality management and air pollution control strategies in Palembang City, Indonesia. This cross-sectional study randomly distributed a validated 35 items questionnaire among 872 respondents coming from 6 public schools. This comprehensive survey have showed that (i) majority (62.2%) identified poor air quality for the city but very low knowledge on topics related to air pollution, (ii) students identified digital platforms especially social media (88.0%) as a major source of information, (iii) the inconsistency between students attitude towards better air quality management with their personal practices. Policies that involve improvement on the curriculum of environmental education in Indonesia are recommended to increase the proactivity of the younger generation towards a more sustainable mitigation of air pollution problem in the country.

Keywords

Atmospheric pollution, ASEAN, educational policies, public health, quality education, SDGs