Haze shuts schools in Selangor, Melaka, KL, Putrajaya

Education minister Fadhlina Sidek announced that schools in Selangor, Melaka, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya will be closed tomorrow due to the deteriorating air quality caused by the haze. Only schools in Rompin, Pahang, will remain open. Institutions in Perlis, Perak, Penang, Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan are set to continue as usual.

Prior to this, Negeri Sembilan declared all schools would close tomorrow, while Johor's schools are already in lockdown for today and tomorrow. The Ministry of Education clarified that schools in regions registering air pollutant index (API) readings of over 180 will close tomorrow, while areas with APIs above 150 for three consecutive days will be affected from October 12.

The API scale categorises air quality from good (0-50), moderate (51-100), unhealthy (101-200), very unhealthy (201-300) to hazardous (301 and above). As of 10pm, 36 areas were recorded with unhealthy API levels. Seremban in Negeri Sembilan and Segamat, Johor topped the list with a reading of 188.