MORE than 600 public schools in a few states are closed today due to poor air quality from transboundary haze, affecting 445,249 students, the Education Ministry said.

In the last major transboundary haze episode in 2015, nearly 7,000 schools were closed at the worst point, affecting four million students.

A total of 636 government schools are closed today, with Sarawak having the highest at 298 schools, the ministry said in a statement.

The Sarawak Education Department said it ordered 53 secondary schools and 25 primary schools to close this morning after a directive from the federal Education Ministry late last night.

The move has affected 128,291 pupils, it said in a statement this morning.

The schools are in the districts of Betong, Bau, Kuching, Lubok Antu, Padawan, Samarahan, Sri Aman and Lundu.

This morning, Sri Aman became the first area in the country to breach air pollutant index (API) readings of above 300, putting it in the “hazardous” range.

At 3am, Sri Aman’s API reading was 300, before climbing to 367 at 9am.

Its reading as at 3pm was 386 API.

The Department of Environment’s API Malaysia website also states there is particle matter of 2.5 micrometres in size (PM2.5) in the air in Sri Aman, which is considered harmful to human health.

In Selangor, 201 public schools were ordered closed today in Sepang, Hulu Langat, Kuala Langat, Klang and Petaling.

Initially, 151 schools in these districts closed at 11am this morning, but by noon, another 50 schools in Sepang and Hulu Langat followed suit based on the morning’s API readings. Banting, near Sepang, had an API reading of 183 at 3pm.

A total of 240,447 pupils are affected in Selangor

Another 25 schools are closed in Putrajaya, which had an API level of 182 at 3pm.

In Negri Sembilan, 112 schools have closed, up from 63 this morning. 

Schools in Johor, which had closed on Sunday, reopened today. The area with the worst API reading in the state at 3pm is Segamat at 153. Readings elsewhere in the state were mostly at the lower end of the unhealthy range or in the moderate range.

An API reading of between 0 and 50 is “good”, followed by “moderate” (51-100), “unhealthy” (101-200), “very unhealthy” (201-300) and “hazardous” (300 and above).

Twelve private schools also closed today, in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Cyberjaya and Negri Sembilan, affecting more than 7,000 students. – September 17, 2019.