591 sekolah di Sarawak ditutup, IPU Serian ‘sangat tidak sihat’

Air quality in Sarawak's Serian region has reached a highly unhealthy level with an Air Pollution Index (IPU) reading of 241. (Picture: Bernama) IN PETAJAYA: A total of 591 schools in Sarawak have been ordered to close due to worsening pollution, with the air quality in Serian reaching a "very unhealthy" level. The Department of Environment issued a warning that this could compromise public health.

Eight other areas in Sarawak have recorded unhealthy IPU levels: Sri Aman (189), Kuching (186), Samarahan (179), Sarikei (173), Sibu (156), Bintulu (154), Samalaju (145) and Kapit (129). The IPU scale categorizes air quality from good (0-50), moderate (51-100), unhealthy (101-200), very unhealthy (201-300), hazardous (301-400), severely hazardous (401-500) and extreme (over 501).

Yesterday, the Sarawak Education Department announced in a statement that 591 schools under the purview of 10 district education offices (PPD) in Sarawak were indefinitely shut down. This affected 509 primary schools with a total of 107,590 students and 82 secondary schools and 89,733 secondary school students under the purview of PPD Kuching, Padawan, Bau, Lundu, Samarahan, Simunjan, Serian, Sri Aman, Lubok Antu and Betong.

The Sarawak Bumiputera and Environment Institute reported that an Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre report from August 1 to yesterday found 148 heat points in Sarawak and 7,286 heat points in Kalimantan, Indonesia. Basically, smoke ranging from light to thick was observed in West Kalimantan and moving northwards to reach the western part of Sarawak.

It said that smoke haze and pollution conditions may further escalate in easily flammable and drought-prone areas with the risk of cross-border haze fires.