Hong Kong(CNN) Open your booklets, pick up your pencils and put on your pollution masks -- it's test time for one smog-covered school in China.
The Linqi County No.1 High School in the Chinese province of Henan has been under fire after photographs surfaced online showing students taking exams on a playground in a thick gray haze.
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The school made hundreds of its eighth grade students -- who are around 14 years old -- take a test on Monday, despite the bureau of education issuing a notice to suspend school activities, according to Chinese state media.
Feng Jisheng, the headmaster of the high school, was asked by the school board to suspend his duties, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
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Parts of northeast China have been blanketed in smog for more than a week.
The country issued smog red alerts for 23 cities last week, and the country's Ministry of Environmental Protection on Monday said 71 cities in China have been affected.
The smog forced flight cancellations, factory shutdowns and school closures.