Sarawak orders two-day school closures as haze worsens, affecting around 200,000 students
Nearly 600 schools are closed as the East Malaysian state records “very unhealthy” air pollutant index levels.
On August 20, authorities in Sarawak ordered a two-day closure of 591 schools across 10 districts due to worsening haze conditions in the East Malaysian state. The closure affects primary and secondary schools, impacting a total of 197,323 students - 107,590 from primary schools and 89,733 from secondary schools. The Sarawak Education Department stated that this precautionary measure is taken to protect students' safety, health, and welfare from the risk of exposure to unhealthy air.
Home-based teaching and learning will continue during the closure. The decision comes as the second school closure this month due to haze, with the previous instance occurring last week in Serian town. As of Friday, API levels in Serian had reached 239, categorized as "very unhealthy" by the Malaysian air quality scale. Hazy conditions are expected to persist over the weekend if biomass burning continues, according to Sarawak's environment officials.
The haze situation in Sarawak is linked to forest and land fires in Kalimantan, Indonesia, with 7,286 hotspots detected in the region from August 1 to 19, compared to only 148 hotspots in Sarawak during the same period.
Written by urgent.news from Channel News Asia's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
