BEIJING - Beijing's education authorities have said the city will accelerate the installation of air purifiers in schools and kindergartens to protect student health on polluted days.

The municipal education commission of Beijing has urged districts to begin the installation work at selected schools before the program benefits more schools. The city government will allocate money to help schools cover the costs.

Some kindergartens, primary and middle schools in districts such as Dongcheng, Xicheng, Chaoyang, Haidian and Fengtai have already installed such devices, with financial support from the government, enterprises and parents.

The middle school affiliated with Tsinghua University said Tuesday it has installed the first batch of air filtration devices in 11 classrooms on New Year's Day. The school plans to install such devices in all its classrooms.

Fengtai district finance bureau said it has earmarked 5 million yuan (730,000 US dollars) to cover the installation of air purification systems for 17 schools and kindergartens. Last year, a number of schools in the district were selected to install devices for testing purposes .

Many regions in northern China, including Beijing, have experienced heavy smog since last Friday.