Malaysia to close 647 Sarawak schools as haze poses health risks

Authorities in Malaysia’s Sarawak state will close 647 schools for five days from Sept. 7 to 11. Continued haze is a health hazard and air quality is unhealthy in parts of the state.

The closure involves 563 primary schools and 84 secondary schools in 12 districts, namely Kuching, Padawan, Bau, Lundu, Samarahan, Simunjan, Serian, Sri Aman, Lubok Antu, Kanowit, Julau and Maradong, the Sarawak Education Department said.

The decision was made after consultation with the Malaysian Meteorological Department and also monitoring during the school holiday, said Sarawak Education Director Omar Mahli.

“Based on our monitoring throughout the school holiday this week, the situation has clearly not changed much,” Omar said.

“So we have decided to close schools from September 7 to 11 in the affected districts,” he said.

The education department said that during the closure, home-based teaching and learning would take place to ensure that students could continue their studies.

The decision comes as haze from fires in neighbouring Indonesia’s Kalimantan region continues to plague Sarawak. On Friday afternoon, the Air Pollutant Index reached 514 in Serian and 313 in Kuching, both classified as hazardous.

Serian on Friday declared a state of emergency in Malaysia after the pollution index reached the emergency threshold of 500.